Find peace.
Take up space.
Feel like you belong.

Somatic Therapy
for Racialized Trauma and Racial Identity Issues in Michigan

You feel like you're straddling two worlds.

Our world caters to people who fit into neat and clean categories. When you don't, you're penalized or ostracized. Sometimes outright, but more often than not it's like a thousand little paper cuts.

You've learned - through how people treat you, what they say to you, even just how they look at you - that you're different. You sense some of them may see you as defective or less than. Belonging feels elusive.

You might even be dealing with rejection from your family and within the other relationships and spaces where you are "supposed" to be safe and protected. It's a painful and lonely experience.

You have big feelings and you’re not sure what to do with them.

This impacts how you show up in the world. Many of the clients I work with struggle with confidence, and instead fall into people-pleasing tendencies or try to "stay out of the way." Others feel filled with rage and resentment.

Do any of the following sound like you?

You feel like you have to pick and choose aspects of your personality to share in certain spaces
You don’t feel like you have a strong racial or cultural identity
Questions like 'who are you?' or 'what are you?' send you into a panic
You feel racial imposter syndrome big time or feel like you have to prove or defend your cultural affiliations
Social anxiety stops you from seeking out the kinds of friendships you're craving
You constantly have to defend yourself against family members or others who question your identity or capabilities

If you're here on this page, it's because you want to feel better. You want to better understand yourself and be able to speak about who you are with confidence. You want to feel more capable of navigating your big feelings instead of feeling completely flooded by them. You want to build relationships where you can metaphorically exhale.

You can feel better.

Somatic therapy can help you improve your relationship with yourself, feel closer to others, and develop the emotional strength needed to resist the oppressive institutions that perpetuate the very discrimination that keeps you feeling isolated.

Some of the clients I work with are:

Mixed race, multiracial/biracial, multicultural/bicultural
BIPOC navigating primarily white institutions
Adoptees
People in interracial relationships
First and second generation immigrants / third culture kids
And more!

I'd be honored to be a support to you in your journey.

Learn more about the history and purpose of somatic approaches on my blog.

BOOK A FREE CONSULT

You may have tried talk therapy (or even done a lot of it), only to continue feeling stuck.

Therapy with me is different.

As a somatic therapist, I don’t just listen to your problems and give you advice. There might be some of that, but I’ll also help you:

Befriend Your Body

You might be asking yourself, “why do I feel this way?” or “why do I always do this?”. Together, we’ll explore your patterns and where they come from. From there, You can make choices that are more in alignment with what feels good. Imagine being present in life and feeling capable of meeting your own needs instead of feeling completely overwhelmed or looking to others to fix you.

Speak Your Truth

You've rewritten your narrative a million times. So often as inbetweeners we fall into people pleasing and shape shifting. Imagine feeling more comfortable talking about your identity, and feeling capable of handling people who question it. Imagine embracing the ways your identity evolves over time.

Find peace with your family

Do you feel like you've had to push for your family to see you more fully? Do you have to defend yourself from unsolicited feedback about your identity? Imagine feeling more clear about what you want your relationship with your family to look like and confidently communicating your boundaries.

Cultivate the friendships you've always dreamed of

You want to feel a sense of community. I’ll help you get clear on what you value in friendship so you can suss out the right people, and take actions to make new friends and get closer to your existing friends. Imagine having relationships where you can just be yourself.

What are sessions like?

My clients describe me as warm, approachable, and having a sense of humor. I view our work as a collaboration and myself as a guide who walks alongside you. As much as I will support you in feeling the things that have been difficult to feel, there may also be times when I invite you to play or be silly in our sessions.

Liberation and decolonization are deep values of mine that I work to live out through my role as a therapist everyday. I am very intentional not to project any "shoulds" or shame on you. One thing being a somatic practitioner has taught me is how damn wise our bodies really are. My training in trauma treatment helps me help you see that too. I've had many clients express that they have learned more about themselves in one session with me than months/years of working with other therapists.

Every session has it's own vibe. There may be times when we are talking more; there may be times when we are not talking at all and using more somatic methods. At the beginning of each session I offer the option for a brief mindfulness practice to help you ground and center, though sometimes folks are ready to just dive in and that's fine too. I find sessions are usually most fruitful when we can focus on one, maybe two things, and go deep with them. Sessions are not you telling me about your week, but us exploring your body and emotions in an experiential way.

I consider it a true honor to support my clients and I'd be delighted to do the same for you.

BOOK A FREE CONSULT

Fee & FAQ

Sessions are 60-minutes long and are $220.

I do not accept insurance. If your insurance plan offers out-of-network benefits I can provide you with what's called a 'superbill' which you can submit to your insurance company for partial to full reimbursement.

I offer limited reduced fee spots for one-on-one services, and the availability for these varies. These are also reserved for those who are not able to use out-of-network insurance benefits.

For answers to other questions you might have about my fees, scheduling, or using insurance benefits check out my very thorough FAQ page.

Getting Started

Here's what beginning together will look like:

We’ll meet for a free 20-minute zoom consultation
We’ll schedule your first 3 sessions
We’ll each consent to moving forward with certain goals or intentions in mind
We’ll meet at the same time weekly or every-other week (depending on your goals and needs) until you feel complete.