You may have learned to measure yourself by how well you do. You work hard, set high standards, take responsibility, and usually find a way to get things done. But the same qualities that fuel your success can also leave you exhausted, overly self-critical, unable to slow down, or feeling as though there is always something more you should be doing. When everyone around you sees someone who is doing well, it can be difficult to recognize how much pressure you are carrying.

I work with high achievers and STEM-minded people who want to understand what is happening beneath the competence everyone else sees. Therapy gives us a chance to look at what drives the pressure to keep achieving, where those expectations come from, and what happens when achievement no longer feels like enough.

The goal is not to make you less ambitious or lower your standards. It is to help you understand what drives you, so that achievement can be something you value without becoming the measure of your worth.

Maybe you are the one who can get completely absorbed in a game, a favorite subject, or whatever happens to capture your interest. Maybe you grew into the adult who is capable, successful, and accustomed to handling things on your own, but still find yourself searching for an outlet or time for your interests. Maybe you are the parent who recognizes these qualities in your child and is looking for someone who understands them.

I work with teens and adults who are often bright, driven, intensely curious, and deeply invested in the things they care about. Some are gamers or self-described geeks. Some simply have always felt a little out of step with the people around them. I understand that these interests and ways of thinking can be an important part of who you are, without assuming they are the reason you are in therapy. I use traditional psychotherapy to help you understand yourself, work through what is getting in your way, and make sense of why something that looks easy on paper can sometimes feel so much harder in real life.

The arts can be intensely competitive, and rejection does not always come with an explanation. Someone else gets the role, opportunity, recognition, or spot you wanted, and you may never know exactly why. You can be talented, prepared, and deeply committed to your craft and still be left wondering what they had that you did not. When this happens repeatedly, it can be difficult not to compare yourself, question your abilities, or feel that you simply are not enough. Even success can bring its own pressure, with each achievement raising the expectations for what comes next.

Therapy can help you sort through what these experiences have come to mean about you and your abilities, especially when the answers are unclear or feel unfair. We can look at the difference between striving to improve and constantly measuring your worth against an industry that does not always reward talent or effort in predictable ways. The goal is not to care less about your work. It is to help you remain connected to what you love about it without allowing rejection, comparison, or uncertainty to define you.

You may have learned to function under conditions most people never see. You adapt, you carry on, and you handle what needs handling. The same training and discipline that made you effective can also make it hard to stand down or to explain what followed you home.

I work with veterans who want to make sense of their service and its aftermath without being treated as fragile or in need of fixing. We also look at the practical realities (i.e., sleep, hypervigilance, irritability, avoidance, the difficulty of transitioning into a world that does not run on the same rules) and the strain all of that puts on relationships and work.

The goal is not to turn you into someone else or dimmish the service that made you who you are. It is to help you understand what you are carrying, so you can set some of it down without losing the parts of yourself that you value.

I utilize a specialized technique for dealing with traumatic memories that has been shown to be particularly effective with veterans. US Veterans in Michigan can receive complimentary services with this treatment. See REWIND Therapy under My Approaches for more information.