Rediscover Joy, purpose and connection
Heal Trauma and Reconnect to Life
comprehensive care for ptsd
Counseling Services
Mission
I help individuals and couples located in Arizona who are in emotional pain. My goal is to make the process as uncomplicated and real as possible. You’ll find that though my approach is scientific, I’m really tailoring a plan that taps into your unique needs. I simply love the connection that grows when you can relate to another and help ease their pain. I specialize in therapy that goes beyond symptom relief to help individuals restore their lives with authenticity, connection and purpose. I will help you address the disturbing images and strong emotions that often accompany trauma to integrate your mind, body and spirit by helping you build identity and strengthen relationships. I offer early morning and evening appointment times and telehealth capability to provide you with needed flexibility in these challenging times.
Convenient and Accessible Online Therapy
Those of you in Arizona practicing social distancing consistent with CDC recommendations for COVID-19, will find comfort in the use of Urim’s state of the art HiPAA compliant video-conferencing system designed to provide you with remote and online assistance that keeps our communication secure and private.
Area of Focus: Identity
To be effective in trauma work, one realizes that well-being and restoration are dependent on the experience of an integrated self. Identity work and trauma go hand in hand. Not everyone who experiences identity issues has suffered from trauma, but trauma necessitates identity work. I work with people of all backgrounds to construct a meaningful and deep felt sense of self regardless of any diagnosis. Culture, race and ethnicity are not unique to minorities and neither are they representative of “marginalization.” As a social justice advocate and racial trauma coach, I take an anti-oppression stance in my care in support of African American/ BIPOC clients. This perspective recognizes that well-being is affected by more than biology and heredity and includes the influence of the social, cultural and political.
Area of Focus: Autism
My proclivity towards social justice, also leans into advocacy work that is outside-the-box when it comes to treating and supporting families and individuals who are autistic or have lived with autism. My treatment approach supports neurodivergent justice and is focused on the physiological/feeling components associated with sensory and nervous system functioning. This includes emphasis on treatments that reflect emerging research and innovative protocols such as the Safe and Sound (SSP) program that is non-invasive and respectful of individual strengths and the diverse presentations of autism.
Biracial, Interracial and Multiethnic Identities
A key area of my expertise lies in my blend of focus on identity and race in counseling those of mixed-race/multi-racial heritage who are seeking coherency and facility living as complete selves that honors their ancestry in the manner of their choosing and not be compulsion from external influences. Others don’t get to define your experience, purpose or sense of self. Unique identity is not a deficit because it is rejected by mainstream or dominant culture. In addition to individual therapy, Urim Recovery is unique in offering online group therapy for biracial/mixed-race individuals in Arizona.
EMDR, Brainspotting, Accelerated Resolution Therapy & CBT
I am trained in the gold standards of trauma care that help desensitize intrusive emotional triggers. My approach is integrative in that I focus on “bottom up” interventions that emphasize the physiological and feeling and integrate those with “top down” (cognitive/thinking) methods. In addition to helping us feel better, releasing trauma from the body opens us up to the insight and learning of our adult brain as we reshape dysfunctional thinking patterns.
Coaching/Consulting
If your emotional needs do not require therapeutic services, please contact me about coaching as an alternative. I routinely provide workshops, courses and individual coaching particularly in the area of identity resolution and mixed-race/bi-racial reconciliation in which I draw from psychology, culture, philosophy and social justice to reshape the way we understand ourselves and interact with the world.
PTSD/Trauma
Reconnect to self & others
Difficulty sleeping, sudden anxiety and anger.
Anxiety
Regain control
Racing thoughts, exhaustion and pressure to succeed.
Depression
Find purpose & energy
Low motivation, disconnection and helplessness.
Identity Conflict
Discover self & acceptance
Cultural stress, disconnect and identity concerns.
Find out more about TRAUMA
How therapy can help:
Though the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be quite debilitating, PTSD is treatable.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that allows people to heal from the emotional distress of overwhelming and traumatic experiences. This therapy is structured and targets the memory components that make up much of the disturbance around trauma, namely, images, cognition (thoughts/beliefs), affect (emotions) and body sensation. This is one of a number of modalities often described as “bottom-up” therapy to distinguish from traditional talk therapy.
I also use an evidence-based bottom-up “body” approach called Brainspotting, which was discovered during an EMDR session by David Grand. Many individuals shy away from trauma treatment because they perceive it as front-loaded with a lot of *work* making timelines and such. I recognize that some clients want to just show up with themselves and go gently from there. Brainspotting allows you to do that. In Brainspotting, I help the client jumpstart the brain’s natural self-healing by locating a spot in their visual field. The client holds their gaze on that spot while the brain processes where you are “stuck” on a subcortical level outside of your conscious awareness.
Another evidence-based trauma treatment approach I use is Accelerated Resolution Therapy® (ART) which is recognized by SAMHSA and NREPP. This therapy allows you to relate your traumatic event or processes as little or as much as you want. ART® utilizes eye movement therapy similar to EMDR, but shows positive results in fewer sessions with less cognitive processing. In other words, I do not need you to retell the details of your traumatic event or process it analytically for this to be effective. ART® works by engaging the primitive part of your brain that has so much to do with your emotional response and helps retrain your body to put the past behind you. This part of the brain is referred to as the “bottom” because the brain develops from the bottom up, from the back to the front. Bottom-up therapy can help target the way trauma feels in the body.
I also utilize Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This has been successfully used to help change the core beliefs and thought patterns tied to the trauma to improve symptoms, restore feelings of self-worth and teach skills. This is what most people understand by “talk therapy” and it is considered a “top-down” approach. Of course, the “top” and “bottom” parts of your brain don’t act independently of each other. Using both approaches allows you to engage your entire brain in the process of healing. You can read more about my approach to therapy and the other modalities I use here.
make an appointment
Client portal
Completing forms before your appointment helps you get the most out of your session so that it is more focused on actual therapy. The information will also help you understand what to expect from your sessions. Please note, that we do not hold appointments if intake paperwork is not completed within 48 hours of your appointment confirmation to allow fair access to our limited availability.
You can schedule an appointment today by following the steps below.
Resources
Urim Recovery Online Mental Health Journal
let me introduce myself
Light and Meaning
Though I am trained in a number of widely researched therapeutic models, none are a match for that innate part within all of us that is dedicated
to survival and remains a mysterious process.
It is for this reason my practice is named “Urim” (pronounced OO-RIM) as
a reminder that the body and the client holds the key to healing, not the
clinician.
If I can help clear some of the clutter obscuring your view, oftentimes, the body knows what to do to complete the healing process. We are wired to connect! I draw on my experience and training not only as a clinician, but as a Harvard trained lawyer and philosophy major to spot the clues revealed by your subconscious to help you access what you already know and figure out meaning, purpose and serenity.
U·rim
o͝orim,o͞oˈrēm
Noun: “mysterious object worn on the breastplate of ancient high priests that provided light and meaning.”
Ready to feel better?
Location
Address: 7220 N.16th Street, Suite G, Phoenix, AZ 85020
(We are conveniently located between Northern and Glendale Avenues near the 51 freeway. If you are travelling towards Glendale from Northern, turn right onto E. Nicolet Avenue about 0.3 miles before you reach Glendale Avenue).
