Margo James (she/her)

For many people, Parts Therapy (or IFS) is a game-changer. It involves listening to different parts of self (inner protectors, inner child, etc.) to awaken what's already there and build more cohesiveness instead of allowing a never-ending inner battle. People usually enter therapy with frustration towards a part (e.g., avoidance or defensiveness), but are able to eventually understand the role it's been playing and to support that role in a way that allows it to calm down.

Gestalt Therapy is a counseling approach from Germany which centers around "emotional catharsis" and directing clients toward more authentic ways of being in the present moment. I love this approach because it is really great at surfacing blockages in a way that pushes clients to work through them. Without the focus on the "here and now," therapy can get lost in distant, hypothetical conversation that doesn't create the desired change brought people to therapy in the first place.

I am a BIG believer that trauma and emotions get stored in the body! I have a strong background in physiology, but what informs me the most is my prior career as a full-time Massage Therapist, my own extensive experience with body-focused forms of meditation and my enrollment in Peter Levine's 3+ year Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training Program. This particular sect of my work is such an incredIble passion of mine because it weaves together everything that I love and I see that it WORKS.

Person-Centered Counseling (PCC) is the bread and butter of counseling for most therapists and is known within our field to be "necessary, but not sufficient." (Thus, my other modalities.) What I want you to know is this: 1) I am a human first, professional second; 2) I genuinely honor who you are; 3) Your goals are my goals, progress to you is progress to me; and 4) YOU are the expert on you, so your big life decisions are entirely up to you.