Therapists in Anchorage, Alaska

Here's the one thing I wish every new client knew: you are not the only one. Whatever the thought, however odd the habit, I have almost certainly sat with someone carrying the same thing.

I believe therapy works when it is honest, unhurried, and specific to the person in the chair. That is my whole philosophy.

Will I ever stop thinking about this? That is the question I am asked most often, usually in the first ten minutes, and usually by someone who has not slept properly in weeks.

A myth I keep meeting is that therapy is mostly about digging up your past until something cracks open. In practice, most of my work faces forward, toward the ordinary weeks ahead and how to make them less bleak.

The thing I have become most certain of is that the tiredness in this area is almost never about effort. People assume they are worn out because they are not coping well, when in fact they are worn out because they have been running a continuous background process for years without a break.

The first hour is mostly you describing the situation and me asking questions that get progressively more specific. There is no assessment, and you will not be asked to arrive with a tidy account of what you want.

The women who find me are usually the capable ones. The friend everyone calls first, the colleague who never drops a ball, the one who lies awake replaying a conversation from three days ago.

Something brought you to this page. Maybe it already has a name, maybe it does not, but it is real, and it deserves more than another month of pushing through.

There is a stubborn myth that a therapist's job is to nod quietly and give nothing back. I disagree.

After many years in this field, here's what I know for certain: the thoughts people are most ashamed of are shared by millions of strangers. Shame insists you're the exception.