Who I Help
For the one who got here first
You may be the first in your family to become a doctor, a lawyer, an executive, or simply the first to leave the life you grew up in. That distinction comes with its own weight.
Being the first to do something is often described as an achievement. Less often discussed is the pressure that comes with it, the sense of having to justify the distance you've traveled, or the loneliness of not having anyone ahead of you who understands the specific climb.
Many of the patients in this group grew up with an emotionally immature parent, learned early to manage other people's moods, or were praised mainly for achievement rather than for who they were. That pattern doesn't disappear once the degree is earned or the title changes. It often shows up later as perfectionism, an inability to rest, or anxiety that has no obvious external cause.
Add pregnancy, birth, or new motherhood to that history, and old coping patterns tend to surface again, sometimes with more force than before.
Success does not undo an earlier story.
I use Internal Family Systems and Brainspotting to work with these earlier patterns directly, alongside somatic approaches for the anxiety that lives in the body. Sessions are available in person in Prince George or by telehealth across Virginia.
A Conversation First
The consultation is free and there is no pressure in it. We talk for a short while, you ask what you want to ask, and you decide afterwards.