Complex PTSD is a diagnostic construct associated with prolonged or repeated interpersonal trauma, often occurring in early life. In addition to core post-traumatic stress symptoms, C-PTSD is characterized by persistent disturbances in affect regulation, negative self-concept, and interpersonal relationships.

Common presentations include chronic emotional dysregulation, heightened sensitivity to perceived rejection or abandonment, entrenched patterns of shame or self-criticism, and difficulty establishing or maintaining stable, reciprocal relationships.

Complex childhood trauma refers to prolonged or repeated exposure to adverse relational experiences during development, particularly within primary caregiving relationships. These experiences may include emotional neglect, inconsistent attunement, role reversal, chronic invalidation, or environments characterized by unpredictability or instability.

Unlike single-incident trauma, complex trauma is cumulative and relational in nature. It can significantly influence the development of attachment patterns, affect regulation, self-concept, and interpersonal functioning over time.

Insecure attachment refers to patterns of relating that develop when early caregiving relationships are inconsistent, unresponsive, or misattuned. These patterns reflect adaptive strategies for maintaining connection or minimizing distress in environments where emotional safety was not reliably established.

Insecure attachment is typically categorized into distinct patterns, including anxious, avoidant, and disorganized attachment, each associated with characteristic ways of regulating proximity, dependence, and emotional expression in relationships.

What are the Types of Insecure Attachment?

Anxious Attachment
Characterized by heightened sensitivity to relational cues, a strong need for reassurance, and concern about abandonment or inconsistency. Individuals may engage in hyperactivating strategies such as monitoring, overanalysis, or attempts to restore proximity.

Avoidant Attachment
Characterized by deactivation of attachment needs and a preference for self-reliance. Individuals may minimize emotional expression, withdraw from closeness, or experience discomfort with dependency or vulnerability.

Disorganized (Fearful-Avoidant) Attachment
Characterized by conflicting strategies involving both approach and avoidance. Individuals may simultaneously seek and fear closeness, often reflecting early relational environments that were experienced as both necessary and unpredictable or distressing.

My work is integrative and draws from multiple evidence-based and depth-oriented approaches. These frameworks are used flexibly based on your needs, with a focus on understanding and shifting patterns at both a cognitive and nervous system level.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based model of psychotherapy that conceptualizes the mind as made up of distinct “parts,” each with its own perspectives, emotions, and roles. These parts often develop in response to life experiences, particularly in early relationships, and may take on protective functions such as managing distress, avoiding vulnerability, or maintaining connection.

IFS also emphasizes the presence of a core Self, characterized by qualities such as clarity, compassion, and groundedness. Therapy involves identifying and understanding these internal parts, reducing internal conflict, and supporting a more cohesive, regulated internal system.

In therapy, we work to understand these parts with curiosity rather than judgment, helping you feel more grounded and less pulled by automatic reactions.

Insight-oriented therapy is a form of depth-oriented psychotherapy that focuses on increasing awareness of unconscious or less conscious patterns that influence thoughts, emotions, and relationships.

This includes exploring early relational experiences, internalized beliefs, and recurring dynamics that may not be immediately apparent. The goal is to develop a more coherent understanding of one’s internal world and relational patterns, which can support more intentional and adaptive ways of responding.

Trauma-informed somatic therapy focuses on the role of the body and nervous system in the experience and regulation of emotion. It is based on the understanding that trauma is not only stored cognitively, but also physiologically, often influencing patterns of arousal, shutdown, and reactivity.

This approach involves increasing awareness of bodily sensations, tracking nervous system responses, and developing the capacity for regulation and tolerance of emotional states. Interventions are applied gradually and with attention to safety, pacing, and stabilization.

Affective Liminal Psychology is an integrative framework that focuses on how emotional and behavioral patterns are formed, maintained, and changed, particularly in moments of psychological “liminality”—the transitional space between a familiar reaction and a new response.

This approach draws on principles from affective neuroscience, learning theory, and behavioral psychology, emphasizing how patterns are reinforced through repetition, emotional activation, and cognitive interpretation. Therapeutic work focuses on increasing awareness during moments of activation and creating conditions that allow for new patterns to emerge and stabilize over time.

Responses associated with complex trauma and attachment disturbances are reinforced through ongoing interactions between cognitive, emotional, relational, and physiological processes. Over time, repetition, emotional intensity, and nervous system conditioning can make these responses feel automatic or difficult to shift.

As a result, insight alone is often insufficient to create lasting change. Effective therapy typically involves work at multiple levels, including cognitive awareness, emotional processing, nervous system regulation, and new relational experiences.

Therapy focuses on understanding how these responses developed within earlier relational and developmental environments, while also supporting increased emotional regulation, self-awareness, and flexibility in how you relate to yourself and others.

Treatment may involve exploring emotional experience, nervous system activation, attachment dynamics, and unconscious beliefs or coping strategies that continue to shape present-day functioning. Over time, this work can support greater stability, coherence, and capacity for more secure and adaptive relationships.

If you find yourself relating to the patterns described on this site, it may be a good place to start. You’re also welcome to reach out and ask questions via email‍ ‍to get a sense of whether it feels like a fit.

This varies depending on the person and what you’re looking to explore. Some people come in with a specific focus, while others engage in longer-term work. We can talk through what feels appropriate for you.

I am in-network with Anthem and Sentara. I also offer private pay sessions at $200 per session.

Yes, I work with adults of all genders.

At this time, my practice is focused on individual therapy for adults. Much of my work centers on attachment, relational dynamics, communication, emotional regulation, and the lasting impact of complex trauma within relationships, so individuals often find that this work meaningfully impacts their relational lives as well.

While I am not currently offering couples therapy, I hope to offer workshops, retreats, and relationship-focused intensives in the future.