Anxiety/Depression:

I have a lot of empathy for those going through life sad, discouraged, stressed and/or worried. Pragmatic and results-oriented, I have found IFS and ACT counseling interventions to be helpful, as well as Mindfulness and Self-Compassion training.

I've learned to be on the watch for anxiety in particular.  Anxiety leads to avoidance, and a lot of avoidance can end up restricting important aspects of our lives, like our relationships, career choices, job performance, social interactions and our ability to try new things.  Which can make us feel stuck and unable to change.  Which leads to depression...but the anxiety came first.

Here's the good news - anxiety is statistically the most successfully treated of any mental health issue.

Women's issues:

Working with women on issues of depression, anxiety, parenting, relationships, and stage of life adjustments i.e. marriage, divorce, empty-nest, menopause, career change, is another special interest of mine. As a woman of a certain age, it's easy for me to understand and be sensitive to some of the life-issues that come up as we move through the roles of daughter, sibling, friend, partner, worker, community member, parent.  

Career/Workplace Issues:

When I first heard in grad school that we were going to spend an entire semester learning about issues related to careers, I thought "not relevant to much".  Boy, did I have that wrong.  More and more, our careers can encompass our largest sense of self, some of our most challenging relationships, some of our biggest stressors, and the vast percentage of our waking hours.  How you feel about your job, co-workers and work life is pretty "relevant" indeed!  Sometimes when we can calm down the work-related stress, whether it's from "impostor syndrome" or a boss with no boundaries, 

everything gets better.

Binge-eating

If you find yourself regularly eating rapidly, alone, past the point of full, when you're not even necessarily hungry - and you feel really bad about it after, chances are you could be diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder (BED). It's very common, and it tends to interfere with successful long-term weight maintenance (not to mention weight loss!) because you can be doing everything perfectly on your plan, and then blow it out of the water with one bad night.

If I'm working with a client who struggles with BED I will usually suggest this as the first focus of treatment if the client chooses - once binge-eating gets settled down most things - especially losing weight - become much easier.

Long-term weight loss and maintenance

I think that sometimes the biggest challenge about trying to be at a healthy weight is not just achieving a goal weight.  It's maintaining  a goal weight.

I am very interested in seeing if I can help clients who are interested lay a solid foundation of understanding, anticipating and handling their particular temptations and triggers. 

I feel like I have a lot of "tools in my toolbox" to share about what might help with moving towards whatever might be desired - i.e. a more peaceful relationship with food, ability to manage emotional-overeating,  and/or building healthy habits around eating and exercise.