Carla Preiss (she/her)

I have both lived and professional experience with anxiety. Many of us often know we have it, but we don't understand why it's there or what we can do about it. I support clients in managing anxiety from the top down and the bottom up. We are going to learn to understand your anxiety better, discovering potential root causes and triggers, and we are going to support you in breaking the anxiety cycle by soothing your body and nervous system.

I have both lived and professional experience with PTSD, and work with clients who are experiencing both acute and complex PTSD (C-PTSD). I have completed additional trainings on treating CPTSD led by experts in the field of trauma therapy, and my approach to the therapeutic process is inherently trauma-informed, and centered around fostering both safety and agency.

I have both lived and professional experience with burnout, as well as invisible chronic illness. Much of my work in supporting you in your recovery from burnout centers around developing self-acceptance and self-compassion, sustainable self-care, boundary setting, and conscious engagement with self, others, and the world.

Sometimes, after we experience something traumatic, we can get stuck in survival mode. Trauma therapy helps your body and your mind heal from traumatic stress by allowing you to become unstuck. This process includes, but is not limited to, learning about what trauma and traumatic stress actually is and how it affects you, regulating your emotions and nervous system and returning to a felt sense of safety, as well as re-connecting with others and the world through healthy relationship.

Humanistic/Person-Centered Therapy is based on the belief that we each have the capacity to grow and self-actualize, when provided with a supportive environment. To create a safe and supportive therapeutic space, I listen with empathy and unconditional positive regard, believing that you are the expert on your own life. I also strive to create a space that is free of judgment, in which we both can be authentic in our expression, and where you can find answers that are true to you.

ACT helps us cultivate curiosity towards our experience, foster acceptance for the things we cannot change, and helps us orient toward engaging with ourselves, others, and our life in ways that aligns with our deepest values. With mindfulness, experiential techniques, and metaphors that encourage self-exploration and perspective-taking, we're able to gain new insight into our struggles and stuck points, and from there we get to make values-based decisions that honor ourselves, and our futures.

I have both lived and professional experience with anxiety. Many of us struggle with anxiety silently, and if we don't find ways to manage and address it, it can often feel very powerful and overwhelming, and can make our world feel really small. I support you in learning to manage your anxiety by developing self-awareness and understanding of the anxiety and what triggers it, while also helping you find solid coping skills that help regulate your nervous system and alleviate symptoms.