3 Things You Can Do Today to Relieve Stress or Ease Anxiety and Depression

1. Move Your Body
Take 30 minutes to go for a walk in nature—a nearby park or a local hiking trail works great! Research shows that spending time in nature can boost energy levels, reduce feelings of depression, and improve overall well-being. Try connecting with the earth by taking off your shoes and feeling the ground beneath your feet. It might feel different at first, but give it a try!

2. Get Outside for Sunshine
Spend at least 15 minutes in direct sunlight, if possible. Sun exposure helps your body synthesize Vitamin D, a natural mood booster. Whether you’re walking, stretching, or just sitting outside, those few minutes can make a big difference in your mood.

3. Explore a Consistent Sleep Routine
Sleep is crucial for mental and physical well-being, but it’s often the first thing to be affected during stressful times. While it won’t be perfect right away, focus on gradual improvement, not perfection. Here are some ideas to get started:

• Find Your Ideal Schedule: Determine how many hours of sleep you need to feel your best. Many people aren’t sure, and that’s okay! If you’re on shift work, we can explore small adjustments for better rest.
• Try a Relaxing Bedtime Routine: Activities like reading, listening to calming music, taking a warm bath, journaling, or practicing meditation can help ease your transition to sleep.
• Create a Calming Sleep Environment: Limit other activities in your bedroom if possible. Set up your room with a comfortable temperature, quiet ambiance, calming scents, and low light to create a soothing environment.
• Reduce Screen Time Before Bed: Turn off electronic devices 1-2 hours before bed, or switch to night mode or blue light-blocking glasses.
• Limit Large Meals Before Bedtime: Avoid heavy meals close to bedtime for a more restful sleep.
• Designate Your Bed for Sleep and Intimacy Only: It’s best to avoid other activities, like watching TV or working, in bed.
• Limit Naps: While naps can be tempting, too many can disrupt your nighttime sleep when building a sleep routine.
• Get Daily Movement: Aim for 30 minutes of activity each day, even a gentle walk. Moving regularly supports both sleep and overall well-being.

Why is Sleep Hygiene Important?
If you’d like to talk more about improving sleep and overall well-being, feel free to schedule a consultation.

Box Breathing

Box breathing is one of the easiest techniques to learn and remember because each step is done for an equal count. Here’s how it works:

1. Inhale gently through your nose for 4 seconds.
2. Hold your breath for 4 seconds.
3. Exhale slowly through your mouth for 4 seconds.
4. Hold your breath for another 4 seconds.

Try going through 4-5 cycles if you feel comfortable, observing your experience as you go. Remember, it’s okay to pause or adjust if you feel any discomfort.

4-7-8 Breathing

The 4-7-8 technique is a popular form of diaphragmatic breathing, often used to reduce stress, ease anxiety, or prepare the body for restful sleep. The counting aspect can also serve as a gentle distraction, helping you feel grounded.

Before you begin, find a comfortable seated position.

1. Press your tongue against the back of your top teeth, with your lips slightly parted, and exhale completely, creating a soft “whooshing” sound.
2. Close your lips and inhale through your nose for a count of 4.
3. Hold your breath gently for a count of 7.
4. Open your mouth and exhale for a count of 8, making that gentle whooshing sound again.

If this feels comfortable, try going through 4-5 cycles, simply noticing your experience as you breathe. Adjust if needed, and feel free to pause if you encounter any discomfort.

Billing for appointments is done 24-48 hours prior to your next appointment, which serves as a reminder for what you have scheduled. If you cancel after billing is done, per my cancellation policy, you will forfeit that fee.

I see clients strictly through telehealth at this time. You simply need an internet connection on your phone or computer, and a safe and confidential space to be during your session. Before your appointment, you’ll receive a web link to connect to a HIPAA-compliant platform where your session will be held.

Telehealth provides a surprising amount of benefits for people, including:

• No travel required
• No need to leave work or battle traffic
• No stress about needing to coordinate childcare or elder care
• Having a therapy session from the comfort of your own home
• No wasted minutes in a waiting room

These benefits can actually make things much easier to come regularly to appointments since therapy is the most successful with regular attendance.

Then we don’t talk about it! With anyone I’m working with, I promise to be honest, and I ask the same from you. If there’s something you’re not ready to address or you don’t want to talk about, just let me know and we’ll work around it.

First, therapy is a collaboration between us. We’ve gotta be a team! The goal of therapy is to work together to find tools and strategies to achieve your goals and overcome what feels challenging in your life. That being said - you’re the team captain, always. This is for you and about you, so we’ll go at your pace, and what we talk about from one session to the next will be based on what feels important to you at that moment. Ultimately, if life happens (because it will), we’ll pivot when we need to.

I’m here to be supportive, to be a resource, and to serve as your accountability.

Well, unless you ask me not to… I’m pretty good for a solid f-bomb at least twice a session!

In all seriousness - I’m generally pretty lax, but I’ll never blow smoke at you. I’m patient, but I will also push you when I think you’re ready and can handle it, because you came to me to make progress. I’ll always call things like I see them, but if you see things differently, I want you to call me on that so we can have those conversations. Remember - discomfort is where change happens, so we’ll do the work, but you’ll always be protected with me.

I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. For more information about these approaches, please click here.

• Start by reaching out for your initial consult with me by using the Contact Us Page. All initial consults are fifteen minutes, and this is a great time to start getting to know each other and make sure we’re a good fit to work together. Once we’ve met I’ll schedule additional appointments with you either through text, phone or email, if not completed at the end of the session.
• How often should I come to therapy?
• Most clients come to therapy either weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the process or where they’re at in their treatment. As people move towards maintaining their goals, they typically will move to every three or four weeks.

Most appointments are on average around 50 minutes, while some EMDR clients can go to 80 minutes.

Yes, with a few exceptions. Therapists are mandated reporters. That means any issues related to child abuse and elder abuse are required by law to be reported to agencies that manage these issues. Also, if you're threatening to harm yourself or someone else, with an active plan and intention to follow through, this is required to be reported to law enforcement. Everything else is between us.

In short, no - but - also maybe.

I’ve been asked why I don’t take insurance directly, and I’ve put a lot of thought into this decision. I know this choice can hinder some people’s access to care. I’ll provide a super bill (which is explained in another question, if you’re not sure what this is) at your request, but I’ve decided not to participate any further with insurance companies. It’s been my experience that insurance companies have negatively impacted treatment for too many people, due to billing issues, fee regulations, and interference with treatment planning.

Insurance companies also typically require a diagnosis to be made as part of the initial intake. This means, after meeting with you one time, a diagnosis is required to bill insurance for the assessment. Diagnosing a person is a complex, intricate process, and requires time in order to get to know the nuances of that person’s life. I believe that diagnosing immediately after the first session can be unethical, as it often is not accurate.

To be in-network with insurance providers, I would be required to report certain parts of your treatment information. Insurance companies can also request additional treatment records at any time and for any reason. They are paying for some or all of the services rendered to you, and can request access to your health records. I feel while legal, these disclosures violate your right to privacy and autonomy of your medical treatment and history. By paying for services yourself, you maintain the level of confidentiality and control you prefer.

I also feel that while diagnoses can often be helpful, they do carry a stigma and I believe you should have significant control over your records and when or where they are disclosed.

Some insurance companies and insurance plans set limits on which diagnoses are covered and deem how long treatment is covered. At times, treatment does not progress at the pace insurance companies think it should and this can add additional stress and pressure to both you and me, and can hamper treatment goals.

Finally, many of these regulations are determined by and decided on by individuals who do not have a clinical or mental health background, and are making decisions strictly based on the finances involved for the insurance company.

For these reasons (and more) I have moved toward a pay-what-you-can model. Yep, pay what you can. You and I can discuss a personalized treatment plan that includes fees, frequency, and timeline, all based on your goals, life, and comfort.

All insurances are different, so you will need to contact your insurance provider and ask if you have out-of-network mental health benefits and what they include. Some questions to ask are:

• • ‘What would I have to submit to use my out-of-network mental health benefits?’
  • ‘Can I use funds from my health savings account (HSA)/flexible spending account (FSA)/health reimbursement account (HRA) to cover mental health services if my provider is out of network?’

This essentially is a receipt of services, that includes the type of session and your mental health diagnosis, which is required by insurance. If you’d like to try to get reimbursement from your insurance company for mental health services, it’s important to ask for a superbill when seeing a provider who’s not in network.

Utilizing the superbill, you pay me in advance before the session. Then, once your session has happened, you’ll submit the superbill to your insurance company for reimbursement. The amount you’ll get is dependent on the insurance company and what your out-of-network mental health benefits include.

Yes, I accept all major credit cards via a third-party HIPAA-compliant billing system.

I charge $150 for a typical session, which is around 50 minutes long, but I also offer a Pay What You Can model. This is determined case by case during initial consultations.

During your initial appointment, I’ll have you input your credit card information into a third-party company, which stores it so you can save that card and use it for each session. You’ll get a text each time I do your billing. It will also notify you when your credit card information needs to be updated.

There is a new law, called The No Surprises Act, that began January 1, 2022. Under this law, you have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost, if you do not have insurance, or if you are choosing to opt out of using your insurance.

This act applies to all certified and licensed medical and behavioral health professionals across the country who serve patients and clients who do not have insurance, or who are choosing to opt out of using active insurance benefits. You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.

If you request a Good Faith Estimate from us or any other healthcare provider you’re working with, make sure you receive it in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service or therapy session. You also have the right to ask your healthcare provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.

You also have the right to dispute the bill you receive if it ends up being at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate. For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit

www.cms.gov/nosurprises.