Who We Serve: The Adolescent Thriving Collaborative provides therapy services for teens, young adults, parents, and families. We support adolescents and families to address and heal from:
My therapeutic approach is collaborative, strengths-based, and trauma informed – rooted in the hopeful science of neuroplasticity: our brains continue to develop and our nervous systems can be rewired across the lifespan. I believe that every person carries within them the wisdom and capacity to heal, be well, and thrive.
I work from the understanding that healing doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens in relationships and in community. Because trauma is pervasive and often transmitted across generations, I have completed specialized training in complex trauma recovery. I believe that taking care of your mental health isn’t about fixing something wrong with you. It’s about nurturing what’s already good and whole inside you, strengthening the conditions and relationships that support you, and allowing all of this to grow over time
I have a special commitment to working with adolescents, young adults, and families. I’m passionate about supporting parents to heal through the journey of parenting so that they can be emotionally attuned to their children and parent with greater ease, confidence, and joy. I also work with families to strengthen relationships, stay connected, and heal patterns of intergenerational trauma.
I draw on the latest neuroscience and flexibly apply tools from Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), Adolescent Development, Somatic Experiencing (SE), Polyvagal Theory, Attachment Science, Eye Movement Desensitizing Reprocessing (EMDR), and Mindfulness and Compassion Practices. My specialized training in complex trauma recovery includes certifications in Integrated Trauma Therapy, Somatic EMDR, and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP). You can read more about each of these approaches below.
I integrate psychoeducation throughout my work with teenagers, parents, and families because understanding how our minds and bodies work empowers everyone to take an active role in their own wellbeing. By teaching adolescents about their autonomic nervous system and stress physiology, I help them recognize what’s happening in their bodies during moments of anxiety, anger, or overwhelm—turning confusing experiences into something they can name and navigate skillfully.
Equally important, when parents and caregivers understand their own nervous systems and develop strategies for increasing their self-awareness and neuroceptive awareness, they become better able to attune to their children, co-regulate with them, and provide more of what we know kids need to grow, develop, and thrive.
In addition, clients will learn practical tools that help them to focus their attention, manage difficult emotions, and develop effective problem-solving and stress management strategies. This approach also strengthens self and social awareness, helping families communicate more effectively with one another and with other adults in young people’s lives. Ultimately, psychoeducation helps people move from feeling overwhelmed or confused by their experiences to feeling informed, capable, and confident in their ability to handle life’s stressors and challenges together.
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach to healing trauma that focuses on identifying survival physiology and gently integrating and deactivating these patterns. Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, SE recognizes that we develop patterns of relating to ourselves, our bodies, and the world based on our early environments. These patterns were our body’s innate way of protecting us and were deeply wise adaptations. However, these protective patterns often become “stuck” and continue operating below the level of consciousness long after they’re needed, becoming maladaptive to our current life desires and goals. With care, we can tend to this early “shaping,” decrease the intensity of our emotional reactions, and create new patterns that support us to be more present, at ease, and connected in our lives.
Each person comes to therapy with unique needs, goals, and strengths. We will work together to build a strong foundation for healing work that includes…
A somatic approach to healing and well-being involves paying attention to and expanding the flexibility of the autonomic nervous system. In somatic therapy, we tend to the connections between the mind, body, and brain…
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured therapy that helps people process traumatic memories and experiences by using bilateral stimulation—typically guided eye movements—while recalling distressing events. This process allows the brain to naturally reprocess “stuck” memories that haven’t been fully integrated. During trauma, memories are often stored in fragments that lead to intense emotional and physical responses in the present. EMDR helps these memories move from the emotional brain centers to areas where they can be processed more adaptively, reducing symptoms like flashbacks, hypervigilance, and emotional overwhelm. The therapy essentially helps develop greater emotional freedom and self-awareness, breaking cycles of trauma that might otherwise continue across generations.
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a listening-based intervention developed by Dr. Stephen Porges that uses specially filtered music to help regulate the nervous system. Based on Polyvagal Theory, the protocol works by exercising the neural pathways between the ear and the vagus nerve, promoting a sense of safety and calm.
