About Margaret

Psychotherapy is an invitation to a collaborative healing relationship between therapist and client. The client and therapist each extend and accept the invitation to work together. My role in the therapeutic relationship is that of a compassionate trail guide. As the trail guide, I keep us focused on our destination: your healing. Together, we challenge the defenses and beliefs that perpetuate your suffering and prevent you from achieving your goals. Should you and I decide to work together I’ll regularly seek your feedback about our alliance and your growth. We’ll review your progress toward your goals to keep us on track for the best use of your time and money.

My therapeutic approach is based on psychodynamic psychotherapy, attachment theory, object relations theory, and interpersonal neurobiology. Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), a psychodynamic psychotherapy model, informs all of my clinical work. ISTDP promotes accelerated symptom reduction in depression, anxiety, PTSD, and somatoform disorders. In addition, I incorporate a variety of therapeutic interventions as part of the process depending on individual needs. These include Emotional Transformation Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), and Accelerated Resolution Therapy.

I use the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) for my work with couples. In 2012 I began studying with Stan Tatkin, Psy D, the developer of PACT and co-founder of the PACT Institute. I was invited to join the PACT Institute's inaugural invitation-only certification program and am one of 19 clinicians worldwide to receive the PACT-certified designation. I host a monthly online discussion group for PACT therapists, provide consultation to PACT therapists, and offer courses through the PACT Institute. With my colleague, Kathryn Barksdale, LPC, I co-created Trauma Wise Couple Therapy, a project focused on providing solutions to psychotherapists working with high-trauma couples. Together, we developed a framework for therapists who work with couples with complex trauma. I continue to attend group case consultations with Stan and am a coach for the PACT Institute. In addition, I sit on the board of the International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association (IEDTA) and chair the IEDTA Diversity Committee. I presented on two panels at the IEDTA conference in Venice, Italy, in 2022.

My commitment to healing and the therapeutic process includes my clients’ healing and my own. I firmly believe that effective and ethical therapists do their own work. I can’t expect my clients to engage in the kind of vulnerability that occurs in therapy without having experienced it myself. A therapist’s understanding of hitting a plateau or pushing through resistance is only as good as their own first-hand knowledge. As a therapist, I can only go as deep with my clients as I have been myself.

I make a concerted effort to do my own internal anti-racism work and address my privilege as related to other marginalized groups. Many of my clients have lived experiences with racial and cultural trauma with which I have no personal experience. Implicit biases related to sexism, hetero-normism, transphobia, ageism, poverty, and ableism appear whenever humans come together. This includes in the therapy room and in my work with clients. I strive to identify and challenge my own internal biases and understand my clients’ individual, inter-generational, and societal experiences of trauma. I am a cis-gendered white woman, and my pronouns are she/her. I seek to provide an affirming, inclusive, justice-oriented space for healing and to support my client's healing through an anti-oppressive, anti-racist lens. I'm committed to providing quality mental healthcare to individuals of all races, identities, expressions, orientations, and family backgrounds.

I'm a bit of a neuroscience geek and love learning about the latest research regarding how our brains function and how that applies to the healing process. I'm also passionate about knitting and other fiber arts and take almost any opportunity to get my creative juices flowing.