What if there’s nothing wrong with you?

I’ve walked through grief and anxiety myself

Like many of my clients, I’ve been through seasons of life that felt overwhelming, painful, and impossible to navigate. I know what it feels like to desperately want the pain to stop, the anxious spiral to end. I know how helpless it feels when trying harder, thinking differently, and fighting against my own experience wasn’t the answer, but that’s the only one I was given.

These life experiences sparked a deep curiosity in me. I wanted to understand why our minds and bodies respond the way they do through times of loss, uncertainty, and change. I wanted to understand why grief is so disorienting and why the pain lessens but never really goes away entirely. I wanted to understand why anxious thoughts feel so overwhelming and why anxiety seems to resonate through the whole body, not just the mind. It’s no wonder so many people going through grief and anxiety come away believing something is wrong with them. 

What I really learned is this: Our responses make far more sense than we often realize. That belief transformed my own relationship with grief and anxiety and informs the way I practice therapy.

I believe understanding creates space for healing

I’ve spent years studying the neuroscience of grief and anxiety, learning from leading researchers and continually deepening my understanding of what helps people move through painful and difficult experiences with resilience. My approach draws from research, clinical training, lived experience, and the wisdom of the clients who have invited me to be their companion through the dark parts of their journeys. 

Through it all is a simple message: Grief is not something to just get over. Anxiety isn’t a sign that something is wrong with you. And you don’t need to walk through the difficult parts of life alone.

Our minds and bodies are trying to communicate something important. When we slow down enough to listen to those messages with curiosity rather than fear, we can address the roots of the pain and help bring peace and healing to the difficult seasons of life.

All behavior makes sense in context

My clients often say that therapy with me helps put thoughts and feelings that seem irrational on the surface into context where we can understand them. Many of my clients are thoughtful, analytical people who are frustrated by the fact that grief and anxiety often don’t seem logical. They tell themselves they shouldn’t be anxious, shouldn’t feel grief this intensely, shouldn’t be reacting this way. 

But the reality is that they are. Rather than arguing with those experiences, I invite my clients to get curious about them. What might your mind be trying to protect? What matters enough to make such a strong response? What makes this reaction understandable in the context of your life?

I’ve found that deep transformation starts when we stop asking “What’s wrong with me?” and start asking “What makes sense about this?”