Therapy for Emotional Growth


Turn Insight Into Change You Can Feel

Maybe you already know why you react the way you do. You’ve made sense of your past, connected the dots, and gained insight. And yet—your body still tightens at the slightest criticism, you still shut down in conflict, or you still feel a hollow ache of emptiness, no matter how much you remind yourself that you should be fine.

If understanding alone was enough to heal, you wouldn’t still feel stuck. This is where experiential-based therapy can help.

Unlike traditional talk therapy, which often focuses on analyzing thoughts to shift emotions (a top-down approach), I draw from Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Therapy (AEDP), an approach that helps us tune into the emotional cues held in the body. This bottom-up method supports emotional growth, insight, and meaningful, lasting change.

Rather than staying in your head or trying to think your way out of patterns, we pay gentle attention to how emotions show up in the body. With support and curiosity, this awareness becomes a doorway to relief, resilience, and a stronger connection to yourself.

If you’ve ever felt like therapy has been helpful but hasn’t changed how you feel deep down, you’re not alone. My approach helps you move beyond insight and into real, felt transformation.

The Science Behind AEDP: Why Feeling, Not Just Thinking, Leads to Change

AEDP is rooted in neuroscience and attachment research, showing that deep emotional engagement in a safe relationship creates lasting neural and psychological change.

Research on neuroplasticity suggests that when emotions are processed fully (rather than avoided or suppressed) the nervous system moves from distress to a more flexible, regulated state. Studies have also found that experiential, emotion-focused therapies like AEDP lead to meaningful improvements in anxiety, depression, and relationship challenges.

What this means for you:

  • You don’t have to be stuck in old emotional patterns.

  • Processing emotions in a supportive, attuned relationship can physically rewire your brain for greater resilience and ease.

  • Emotional pain doesn’t just lessen—it transforms into a source of strength, clarity, and self-trust.


If you’re curious about AEDP, I recommend reading Hilary Jacobs Hendel’s book It’s Not Always Depression, which provides a great introduction to this approach and the power of processing emotions.

What Is Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)?

AEDP is an evidence-based therapy that integrates attachment science, affective neuroscience, and experiential healing. Instead of staying stuck in overthinking, avoidance, or self-protection, AEDP helps people engage with emotions in a way that leads to genuine transformation.

Through our work together, you can:

  • Move through past pain, loss, or trauma in a way that leads to real emotional relief

  • Transform anxiety, shame, or fear into confidence, connection, and self-trust

  • Break free from self-criticism and develop self-compassion

  • Experience the healing power of feeling truly seen and supported

Many clients come to me after trying therapy before and still feeling emotionally disconnected, stuck in old patterns, or weighed down by unresolved emotions. AEDP is different—it’s not just about talking about emotions but actually changing how you experience them.

How I Use AEDP to Help Clients Heal

In our work together, we’ll tune into your inner world in a way that feels safe, supportive, and healing. AEDP includes several key components:

1. Healing Starts in the Relationship

Healing starts with connection. Many of us grew up learning to manage emotions alone, whether through self-reliance, avoidance, or numbing. In an emotionally alive therapeutic relationship, you’ll discover that expressing your feelings becomes gradually easier, leading to greater connection and security in your relationships.

Science confirms what we instinctively know: when emotions are processed in the presence of someone attuned to us, the nervous system shifts from distress to a state of regulation, balance, and connection. That’s why I take an active, relational approach. I’m not just a passive observer– I’m with you in this process.

2. Transforming Emotional Pain Into Growth

We don’t explore emotions for the sake of it. Core emotions like anger, sadness, and fear have adaptive functions. When fully processed, these emotions lead to relief, clarity, and strength rather than feeling stuck or overwhelming.

Many clients worry that feeling their emotions will make things worse, but in reality, avoiding them is what keeps them stuck. AEDP provides a way to help clients move through emotions rather than be consumed by them.

3. Expanding Capacity for Joy & Positive Emotions

Healing isn’t just about working through pain, it’s also about increasing your capacity for love, joy, and connection. Many people have spent years bracing against emotional pain or grew up in environments where expressing joy didn’t feel safe. Over time, this self-protection can impact your capacity to fully experience happiness, excitement, and connection. AEDP works to reawaken your ability to experience joy, intimacy, and self-compassion.

4. Healing Changes How the Past Lives Inside You

Many people believe that revisiting the past won’t change anything. “It happened so long ago—why bring it up? Talking about it won’t undo what happened.” But unprocessed emotions don’t disappear, they shape how we react, relate, and see ourselves (often without us realizing it). You might find yourself overreacting in certain situations or drawn to relationships that leave you feeling unseen. These patterns aren’t random, and they often stem from emotional experiences that haven’t been fully processed.

AEDP helps you engage with these experiences in a way that doesn’t just rehash the past but actively changes how it lives inside you. Through a safe, attuned relationship, we create the conditions for emotional processing that rewires expectations, softens self-protection, and restores access to deeper connection, trust, and ease.

What to Expect When Working With Me

I use AEDP to help individuals who feel stuck, emotionally disconnected, or weighed down by unresolved feelings. It’s a powerful model of therapy for emotional growth, especially for those seeking transformation that lasts beyond the session. This approach can be especially helpful for:

✔ Anxiety & emotional overwhelm
✔ Relationship & intimacy challenges
✔ Attachment wounds & early relational trauma
✔ Shame & self-criticism
✔ Depression & emotional numbness
✔ Grief & loss
✔ Post-traumatic stress & unresolved trauma

For many clients, this type of therapy can offer the breakthrough they’ve been looking for. It’s a way to move beyond talking about emotions and into truly feeling and processing them in a way that integrates them into their experience to promote healing. My style is active, engaged, and relational. Long gone are the “blank slate” days found in more traditional psychotherapy. I’m fully present with you in sessions, tracking what’s coming up, sharing my observations with you, and guiding the process in real time.

What this looks like in our work together:

  • A focus on real-time emotional experience rather than just discussing past events

  • Support in staying connected to your feelings instead of pushing them away

  • Guided emotional processing that leads to relief, clarity, and transformation

  • An emphasis on self-compassion and resilience rather than self-judgment

Take the First Step Towards Real Change

If you're looking to better understand your inner world, to make sense of what you're feeling and how to move through it, experiential therapy can offer the depth and support you’ve been seeking. If you're ready to explore therapy for emotional growth, I’d love to connect and see if we could be a good fit. Learn more about me or schedule a free 30-minute phone consultation today to take the first step.