Therapist Profile

My Approach to Helping

In most areas of life the challenge is balance. In therapy, too, balance is the challenge. On my best days, there's a graceful balance between the warm, safe, heart-centered acceptance I offer people, and the curious, challenging, depth-oriented work I guide them through. A colleague of mine often refers people to me saying, "if you're ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work, then I recommend Gina." And she's right. People who work best with me are often willing to take some risks and discover new things about themselves in order to become conscious, responsible and whole. What's that old adage, courage is not the absence of fear; it's feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Whether motivated by distress, a commitment to personal growth or both, I have great respect for the people who choose the path of change through psychotherapy. How fortunate I am that my work allows me to share in this personal and often sacred encounter.

In graduate school, I developed an interest in what was then a new area of psychotherapy: the treatment of trauma. As this field developed, I've had extensive training, supervision and clinical experience in helping people become less burdened by their past to live more fully in the present.

More Info About My Practice

I often employ a unique approach called, IFS, the Internal Family Systems model. In Yoga we say, "Namaste," the light in me honors the light in you. However you define that light...soul, spirit, true self, inner wisdom, collective unconscious, chi...IFS helps me access that light in myself and my clients--a powerful resource that supports and deepens the therapeutic process. Through the IFS work, we can understand and appreciate all the parts of ourselves and work through the blocks our parts often inadvertantly create that keep us from being and trusting who we really are.