Hi, I’m Kayla!
Seeking therapy takes courage, and I’m really glad you’re here.
I’m a licensed clinical professional counselor and psychotherapist. I work with adults and couples navigating the long-term effects of complex and developmental trauma, disordered eating, dissociation, sexual trauma, and the painful disconnection many people feel from their bodies, especially when that disconnection has been shaped by systems such as religion, culture, or family.
I’m passionate about helping people not just “feel better,” but actually feel again, safely, slowly, and in ways that are true to them. My work centers the body and nervous system as the foundation of lasting emotional and relational healing.
Our work together can go deep, but there is always room for humor, breath, and the occasional well-timed joke. This is a space where you do not have to perform, pretend, or prove anything. My goal is to co-create a therapeutic relationship where you feel grounded, seen, and actively involved in your own healing. You will never be treated like a diagnosis or a problem to fix.
Book an appointment with me!
How I Show Up
I show up as a human first, therapist second. Our work will be relational and experiential, which means we will do more than talk about what is happening. We will also slow down and notice what is happening within your body and nervous system in real time.
Relational
You will not be doing this alone. I meet you where you are and stay with you through the process.
Attachment-Focused
We explore how early relationships shaped your sense of safety, connection, and self.
Body-Affirming
Your body has always had something to say. Together we learn how to listen again.
Anti-Pathologizing
Your symptoms are not flaws. They are adaptations that once helped you survive.
Gentle and Honest
I bring care, clarity, and compassion, along with the kind of honesty that supports growth without shame.
Context-Aware
Your story does not exist in isolation. We hold the cultural, relational, and systemic contexts that shaped it.
I hold a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, a Master of Science in Health Service Administration, and a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition. My background across mental health, healthcare, and nutrition informs a systems-oriented approach to healing. I view each client within the broader context of their body, relationships, environment, and lived experience, rather than reducing their struggles to a set of symptoms or diagnoses.
My training in nutrition also informs a weight-inclusive, body-respecting perspective. In a world that often teaches people to distrust or override their bodies, I support clients in reconnecting with their internal cues and learning to experience the body as a source of information and guidance rather than judgment.
My Approach
I approach therapy through a trauma-informed, systemic, and sociocultural lens, always considering the broader context of your story, your environment, and the adaptations that helped you survive.
My work integrates somatic and experiential approaches, reflecting the understanding that mind, body, and nervous system are not separate systems but interconnected parts of how we experience and heal. Drawing from interpersonal neurobiology, we understand that our brains, bodies, and relationships continually shape one another, which means lasting change often happens through new relational and physiological experiences, not just insight.
When trauma or chronic stress occurs, our brains and bodies adapt in ways designed to protect us. These adaptations are intelligent, even when they later feel confusing, exhausting, or have even become dangerous or harmful! Therapy can help create the conditions where these patterns begin to shift, allowing for greater flexibility, capacity, and choice in daily life.
My clinical training includes Somatic Experiencing (SE), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and EMDR, approaches that support people in gently moving out of survival patterns and building greater capacity for connection, regulation, and aliveness.
Curious about these approaches?
Click here to learn more about SE, IFS, and EMDR.
Associations
- American Counseling Association (ACA)
- Somatic Experiencing International (SEI)
MORE ABOUT ME
When I’m not in the office, I enjoy spending time with my family, tapping into my creative side, and attempting to do yoga while my cats and dogs enthusiastically “assist”!
Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness. – Peter Levine, PhD