How does this work? What should I expect?

Questions? Next steps?

How It Works

1. Book a Free Consultation

Click here to go to my scheduling calendar to book your free, no obligation, consultation. We will spend 20-30 minutes talking about how we might work together. It will give us both a chance to ask questions to help determine if we would be a good fit to work together.

2. The Consultation

During our meeting, I will ask you some questions to better understand what you’re hoping to achieve in therapy. This is also designed for you to ask any questions you may have about me and my approach to therapy. We can also discuss availability. These will all help determine if I am the right fit for you.

I'm ready to book my consultation

3. And Beyond

Once we decide to move forward with therapy, I will send you my intake packet that you can fill out all online through my client portal. You will receive email and text appointment reminders with a link to your session (Zoom link). Simply join your appointment session from the link provided a few minutes prior to session start time.

Initial Intake Appointment

During our initial 80-minute intake appointment, we will meet on Zoom and spend time going over your history to include family of origin and childhood experiences that had an impact on you, current family dynamics, school and work history, previous counseling experience, current stressors and symptoms along with other things you feel are important to our work together. Some of these things will be on the intake paperwork you completed prior to the session and we may just briefly touch on them.

We will discuss goals for treatment, including what you are hoping to see change in your life. If you have already done some IFS/parts work, you will have an opportunity to share with me what you have been learning about your own parts and where you’re hoping to go in our work together.

At the end of the intake, we will review the schedule and recurring appointment time and set an intention for our next session.

Weekly Recurring Appointments

We will meet weekly on Zoom for 50 minutes. If you feel these sessions aren’t sufficient, we can discuss extended sessions either regularly or on an as-needed basis based on availability. Extended sessions give us 80 minutes to go a bit deeper into the work.

The first few minutes are typically used to ‘catch up’ and make note of any significant events. It’s also a chance to share what you have noticed with the parts we have been working with, or awareness of other parts that may have been activated during the week. We will revisit the intention set in our previous session with a recap of the work done and intentions you may have set as your ‘homework’ from last time.

Together we will determine which direction to go, knowing that sometimes the intention we set at the end of a session, may need to put on hold at times. We will take a few moments to “go inside” and check with in and go from there.

IFS therapy sessions are different from many other types of therapy sessions. IFS therapy emphasizes the importance of developing a deep and compassionate relationship with each part of oneself. Together, you and I will create a container where you can explore and understand your parts with curiosity and openness.

I will gently guide you to explore your internal landscape, to identify and understand the roles and functions of your different parts. This process helps you to recognize that all parts have a positive intention, even if their behaviors may sometimes seem harmful or destructive. Through this understanding, you begin to develop a compassionate and harmonious relationship with these parts of you. In this process you will also begin to gain a deeper understanding of one of the key concepts of IFS that is called the Self. The Self is considered to be the core essence of an individual, a place of wisdom, compassion, and calm. IFS therapy works towards helping clients access and strengthen their connection with their Self. From this place of centeredness, you can navigate your internal world with greater clarity and compassion.

We will begin wrapping up approximately 10 minutes before session ending time in order to make sure parts you have connected with get adequate ‘closure’ for the session. I will help you set an intention for work between sessions and the intention for follow up when we meet next. We will then verify day/time of next session.

If you’d like more information about Internal Family Systems, go to this page to read more. There are also links to more resources.

Occasionally clients might want to schedule an intensive, where we book a half day, full day, or multiple days to meet. There may be options for in-person intensives, please contact me if you’d like more information about intensives. These can be a powerful way to jump-start your IFS healing journey.

What to Expect

Frequently Asked Questions

The duration of therapy varies depending on your unique needs and goals. Some individuals may find relief or accomplish their desired outcomes in a few sessions, while others may benefit from longer-term therapy.
During our initial sessions, we will discuss your concerns and develop a tailored treatment plan that addresses your specific needs. Together, we will determine the frequency and duration of therapy sessions that best suit your goals.
All therapy is online at this time. This will be done through a private, HIPAA compliant online therapy platform. A link will be sent to you prior to our session that you will click on to join our session at our scheduled time.
I require at least 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule all sessions. Less than 24 hours’ notice will incur a late cancellation fee.
Therapy can be vulnerable and new, so it’s natural to be nervous. It can be difficult to imagine the words around what you are feeling. Maybe you’ve experienced feeling tongue tied when trying to open up to friends or loved ones in the past. Fear around that can feel overwhelming. It takes courage to start going to therapy. The fact that you are on this website, looking for help, and reading this right now shows that you are being brave and seeking help.
Therapy is a space where you can be yourself and come just as you are, including feeling nervous. I’m committed to finding a way to care for your nervousness and ensure sessions are as comfortable as possible.
I’m here if you want to talk about it during a free video consultation.
Take your time to read through my website. If you sense that I may be a good fit based on what you are reading, you can book a free consultation.
During a free video consultation, you can ask me questions about my approach, about how I have helped other like you before, or any other questions you may have that are specific-to-you. You’ll also be able to speak to what’s bothering you and we can determine how I could best be of service to you.
It may be helpful to think of the first few sessions as trying out the waters together. During the sessions, you’ll be able to see how you feel working with me. My approach is not going to work for everyone.
What’s most important to me is that you find someone who you feel is the right fit for you. We can explore that together.
It can be concerning feeling like things you say or do in therapy could “get out.” I want you to know that unless there is an imminent danger to yourself or someone else, everything you share with me is completely confidential.
I highly respect your privacy and value your trust.
You can rest assured that you can talk about anything without fear of that information getting out.
If you have specific questions about how confidentiality works, you can ask during your during a free zoom consultation or anytime during our work together.
Overall, you can think of the first session as a structured assessment that helps me get to know you and the challenges that brought you into treatment. I’ll invite you to share more about yourself and we can also talk about what’s worked or not worked for your mental health in the past.
Some questions that I like to ask during a first session include:
What’s present for you in your life right now?
Have you gone to therapy before? How did that go?
What do I need to know about you to understand your current challenges?
You can ask me questions as well. You might be curious about about how I view client struggles and my strategies to work through difficult thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
The most important part of a first session is to notice how you feel during and after the session. If you feel supported, seen, and safe with me, we can discuss if you’d like to meet again.
Click here to book a free consultation!