Focusing & Dreamwork

Alongside talk therapy, I integrate two related, body-based ways of working with clients who are drawn to them: Focusing and dreamwork.

Focusing is a gentle, bodily way of listening — paying attention to the felt sense of something in the body, beneath and alongside our words, and letting understanding emerge from there rather than only from the thinking mind. It's a way of slowing down and staying with experience as it forms. I'm currently working toward certification in Focusing-Oriented Therapy through The International Focusing Institute.

Dreamwork has been part of my practice since my early graduate years, explored personally, in therapy, and in peer-based groups. I completed a year-long training in embodied experiential dreamwork, which weaves Focusing into the process — a felt, bodily way of being with a dream rather than interpreting it from the outside.

In practice, this might look like dialoguing with a dream image, carrying a dream forward, or finding some resolution with more fearful or nightmare-type dreams. The approach is non-interpretive and aligns with my person-centered foundation: we don't dig for hidden meanings, but stay open to what the dream experience actually is, and notice the parts that feel alive or charged with meaning.

This kind of work can be quietly steadying. For those working with trauma, it offers a way to approach charged emotional material — including nightmares and anxious dreams — gradually and with support, rather than head-on. Attending to the felt sense and to interoception, the body's own sense of its internal state, can help you notice the cues that signal when you're calm, activated, or shutting down. Over time, that somatic awareness can build a steadier relationship with difficult emotions and support your capacity to stay with them rather than feel overwhelmed. Many people find this carries over into how they handle stress, navigate relationships, and move through hard conversations. This work can also bring insight into what matters to you, helping connect that clarity to how you want to live and move forward.

Both Focusing and dreamwork are always optional and shaped around what feels right for you