Stress & Mood Regulation — Utah and Washington

What this work looks like

Stress and mood issues come in lots of flavors — generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety, depression that's heavy or just gray, burnout, the feeling that your nervous system never really shifts out of alert. We start by getting clear on what's actually happening underneath, because the right treatment depends on that.

Most of the time my main approach is ACT — Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT doesn't try to argue you out of your feelings. It builds psychological flexibility — the ability to feel what you feel, hold it less rigidly, and still take action toward what matters to you. For most stress and mood issues, that's the actual lever. I've been using ACT in practice since 2019 and have specialty training with Russ Harris in working with adolescents.

I'm also trained in DBT and CBT and use them where they fit. DBT skills help when emotions are intense and hard to ride. CBT helps when cognitive patterns (catastrophizing, all-or-nothing thinking) are clearly fueling the problem.

Who is it for?

• Generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety
• Depression — major, persistent, situational
• Burnout and chronic stress
• Health anxiety
• Mood swings without a bipolar diagnosis
• The constant low hum of "something's off" — even when life looks fine on paper
• Adults who've tried medication alone and want something more

The modalities I use here

• ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy): primary approach. Builds psychological flexibility — feeling your feelings without being run by them.
• DBT skills: for distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness when the system is overwhelmed.
• CBT: for cognitive patterns that are clearly maintaining the problem.

If we discover that what looks like anxiety or depression actually has unprocessed trauma underneath — which is common — we'll talk about whether trauma work (EMDR, brainspotting) is the better entry point.

What does a session look like?

We meet via secure video, usually weekly to start. Early sessions are about understanding what you're dealing with, what's been tried before, and what actually matters to you. ACT depends on knowing your values — not abstract "values," but the specific things you care about and want your life pointed toward.

From there, sessions are a mix of skills practice, processing what's coming up between sessions, and working on the patterns that keep the stress or mood problem going. Goals are chosen by you, not assigned.

Frequently asked questions

What's ACT, and why do you lead with it?

ACT — Acceptance and Commitment Therapy — was life-changing for me when I started studying it in 2015. It doesn't try to argue you out of your feelings or convince you they're wrong. Instead, it builds psychological flexibility: noticing what you're feeling, holding it less rigidly, and still moving toward what matters to you. For most stress and mood issues, that's the actual lever.

Is this just CBT with extra steps?

No. CBT and ACT come from related traditions but work differently. CBT often focuses on changing the content of your thoughts; ACT focuses on changing your relationship to your thoughts. ACT is sometimes more useful when thoughts can't be 'fixed' — like grief, chronic stress, or thoughts that keep coming back even after you've challenged them. I use both depending on what fits.

I have actual depression — can therapy alone help, or do I need medication?

It depends on the depression. Some depressions are mostly biological and respond best to medication plus therapy. Some are rooted in unprocessed trauma and respond well to EMDR or brainspotting. Some are situational, fueled by burnout, grief, or a life that's out of alignment with what matters to you. We figure out which is which, and treatment matches.

My anxiety is constant. Will I ever not be anxious?

Probably not zero, no. But you can have a very different relationship with anxiety — one where it's not running the show, where it can be present without being in charge. ACT is especially good for this. The goal isn't to eliminate the feeling; it's to stop having to organize your whole life around avoiding it.

I've done CBT before and it didn't really stick. Is this different?

It can be. CBT works really well for some people and some problems. Where it tends not to stick is when the issue isn't really cognitive — when it's nervous system regulation, attachment patterns, or trauma underneath. We assess what's actually going on and pick approaches that match the layer where the problem lives.

When does DBT come in?

DBT skills are useful when the system is overwhelmed — when emotions are intense and hard to ride, when relationships are full of crisis, when distress tolerance is the missing piece. I'm trained in DBT and pull from it where it fits. I'm not running a full DBT program, but the core skills (mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation) are useful in lots of contexts.