Your anxious overthinking is getting out of hand, and you’re tired of wondering if you’ll ever feel good enough.
By most standards, you’ve done everything you’re “supposed” to… the education, the career, the house & car, maybe a great partner and some kids or the cutest fur babies who ever lived.
But on the inside, you’ve been spinning out: obsessive overthinking, anxiety attacks, losing sleep, zero interest in sex, nervous energy practically coming out of your ears–
and you. are. over it.
Many of my clients…
- Are pretty sure they feel emotions more intensely than most people
- Have spent most of life shoving down or ignoring unpleasant feelings
- Worry that if they let themselves feel their emotions, they’ll drown in them
- Lose precious time on mental disaster planning or problem-solving unlikely ‘what-if’s
- Are experts at making sure everyone else is okay, but often at the cost of their own wellbeing
- Spend a lot of energy & time trying to prevent or reject their deepest fear: that they’re just not good enough
After working with me, my clients…
Recognize
signs that an anxiety-panic spiral is coming on.
Learn
and use skills to help slow or even prevent spinning out.
Enjoy
spending time with friends and family… and even themselves (YES, imagine enjoying your own company!).
Take time
for themselves without feeling guilty.
Actually
get a little quiet space in their brain.
Revive
their romantic & sexual interest with their partner.
Feel
more confident in social, family, and dating relationships.
Am I the right nerdy therapist for you?
Clients have said that working with me…
- Was “worth every penny” (true story!).
- Helped them deal with grief & devastation when their pet crossed the rainbow bridge, without feeling like they were “just being dramatic” or “too emotional.”
- Created a game plan of some basic doable self-care steps when life hits hard and daily to-dos like ‘eat a food’ fall by the wayside.
- Provided a deeper understanding of their anxiety, sadness, and rage, which….
- Made those big emotions feel more manageable, even though they’re not exactly a fun time.
- Taught them what to do with their emotions, besides just feel completely thrown around by them.
Whether this is your first experience with therapy or if you’ve already been around the therapy block a couple times, we can get it sorted at a pace you’re comfortable with.
You don’t have to know all the why’s and how’s or even all the what’s. You just show up, grab throw blanket if you want one, and let it out. We can untangle the knots together.
Education
I earned my Master of Science in Counseling Psychology 15+ years ago, and I attend various therapy and psychology trainings every year to help keep my skills sharp. Learning and sharing information & skills I’ve learned, and being a neutral third party for folks to bounce their thoughts, emotions, and ideas off of as they figure out their own shit, is my favorite part of the job. In my work, emotions are information: they contain important info about our lives, like if things are going super great- or super shitty.
In therapy with me, over-thinkers learn to identify and understand subtle differences in their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, find ways to make sense of these puzzle pieces, and start putting them together in a way that feels better to them.
My Approach(es)
You’ve got all the feels (or none of them?) and don’t know what to do about it. You’re the expert on you; I’m the one who geeks out on the ways emotions and brains and thoughts work together to make people feel anxious, pissed, or calm.
I help people make sense of their automatic responses, understand their emotions, and decide how to set and feel okay about their own boundaries. It’s kind of like reverse psychology, but on yourself: we learn how to acknowledge, accept, and deal with emotions like anger and fear, instead of spending a ton of energy trying to ignore or shove those emotions down. With our powers combined, let’s figure out how you can stop overthinking, cry at times that feel more appropriate, and decide what your limits are for helping other people while still taking care of yourself and those closest to you.
I’ve used EMDR for the last 5+ years, and I’m currently in consultation to become certified! I am also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP™), and have trained in hypnotherapy with the Erickson Foundation, including one on one consultation with faculty.
Did you know that traditional CBT and mindfulness therapies can make OCD worse? I’m trained in Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) and Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT or ICBT) for OCD. Both are evidence-based methods, meaning that research has shown that they help people actually kick OCD’s butt.
Check back soon for more detailed info about these approaches and how they could help you!
About Holly, the human:
I love traveling to the Pacific Northwest in the summer, and knitting with my human-trapped-in-a-dog’s-body, Argo (also known as Arg Bargerson, likely a British weatherman in a past life) in the fall & winter. Spending $90 on crafting supplies to DIY something that would otherwise cost ~$10 is my jam, and if chips & queso contained all the nutrients a human needs to thrive, I’d be the healthiest person alive! (though I have also been known to demolish a bag of Brussels sprouts in a matter of days- yay vegetables)
I’ve lived in Arkansas for most of my life, and in the central area for the last 15+ years. People and personalities have always fascinated me- from those I’ve known in real life, to sketch comedy characters- so psychology was a natural path for me in college. The more I learn about how brains & nervous systems work, the more intrigued I get!
Future
Coming soon: therapy groups focused on recovering from toxic religion!
Lots of folks leave their faith (usually after trying everything possible to make it work) thinking ‘you know what? not my circus, not my monkeys.’ And yet,… the monkeys keep popping up. There’s still a gut-punchy sense of guilt when they think something mean, consider m*sturbating or having s*x with someone they’re not covenant-married to, or want more than minimum wage in exchange for a zillion hours of their weekly life. Going from having ‘Everything Figured Out’ (religious trademark) because ‘Just Give It To God,’ to ‘….I’m An Actual Adult Who Makes Her Own Decisions’ can be kind of disorienting, even years after leaving. Processing this shit in a group setting can be a powerful way to learn how other folks are doing it, and create a small community of support with people who are dealing with similar things.