In-person in Southern maine & online across maine & washington
Tools for the inner journey
trauma-informed somatic therapy for men
What we actually do in session
For decades, the old-school “talking cure” shaped what people imagine therapy to be: you talk, the therapist listens, maybe they offer a little perspective, and that’s about it.
Talking can absolutely be cathartic and healing. But for most people, therapy plateaus if that’s as far as it goes. It won’t create lasting change.
My style is different. I’m much more engaged and experiential than traditional talk therapy. I’ll invite you to stretch your comfort zone, take risks, and access deeper layers of your inner experience—not just the thoughts you already know how to talk about.
I use an eclectic approach — I draw from several different modalities depending on what feels most useful from session to session. Below, you can explore the various modalities I draw from and get a feel for how they work together to create powerful opportunities for change.
Core Energetics is the framework that I generally find to be the most impactful in my work with men. You’ll notice I give it special emphasis here. The other modalities I draw from complement and support this approach — giving us different tools for different layers of your experience.
you’ve tried figuring it out on your own, but you keep getting stuck.
Maybe you’ve made progress, but certain patterns keep looping:
Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, irritable, or flat
Getting stuck in old survival patterns (shutting down, withdrawing, fawning, or pushing too hard)
Emotional triggers in intimate relationships
Difficulty expressing yourself without shame
A sense that something deeper is blocking you from feeling confident and grounded
Feeling disconnected from your body, purpose, or masculine energy
Knowing how you “should” be but not being able to get there
You don’t need more willpower. You need a different way of working — one that includes your body, your nervous system, and the places talk therapy alone doesn’t always reach.
The modalities I draw from
Each modality provides unique tools to access different layers of your inner experience.
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Core Energetics is a somatic approach that focuses on releasing patterns of tension in the body, also known as “segmental armoring”, to free ourselves from restrictive personality patterns that block us from full self expression.
By using a range of physical techniques involving touch, movement and sound, we can dissolve our defenses and recover our full vitality and life force energy.
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Hakomi is a technique that utilizes mindfulness experiments to gain insight into your unconscious mind.
Our unconscious minds hold all of our unprocessed emotions, traumatic memories, and core beliefs, and they shape our thoughts and behaviors in powerful ways.By cultivating the skill of mindfulness — noticing what’s happening inside you from moment to moment at all levels of your experience (physical, mental, emotional) — you can start to discover, in real time, why you react the way you do to certain ‘triggers’ in your life.
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Parts work approaches healing from the perspective of multiplicity: the human mind is made of multiple parts that have distinct personalities and functions. We may think of ourselves as having just one “self”, but from another perspective, we actually have a whole family of different characters inside of us.
We have younger, more vulnerable parts and we have parts that protect them. Sometimes protectors get so good at protecting us from hurt and pain, that we have a hard time connecting with our vulnerability.
Learning to connect with our different parts and create a healthy dialogue with them can have a profound effect in helping us shift dysfunctional patterns in ourselves.
One of the core concepts in parts work is the notion of “self-parenting”: learning how to “mother” and “father” our younger selves in healthy ways.
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Good therapy involves some straightforward education in psychology, including a perspective known as “emotional hygiene”. This involves learning about attachment theory, your physiology and nervous system, and how your emotions are designed to work.
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Most of us have an inner monologue going on in our heads all the time. For some people that monologue can be harsh and critical. Part of what gives the voice in our head power to mess with us is that it’s stuck in our heads.
Psychodrama is about taking the voices in our heads and expressing them externally through role-playing exercises. When we are willing to play the role of our inner critic and express it outwardly, it loses its power over us. We turn suffering into play.
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Relational work is based on two premises:
The present moment is the one that matters most. What is happening inside you RIGHT NOW? Our minds are conditioned to constantly shift between the future and the past, and we ignore what is happening inside us in the moment. Intimacy happens in the present, not in the past or the future. Cultivating awareness of feelings and emotions in the present is foundational to true intimacy, and it’s harder than you’d think.
What you’re feeling toward me, your therapist, is relevant to other relationships in your life. What I’m feeling toward you, the client, is also relevant to other relationships in your life. Our relationship dynamic is designed to trigger patterns that show up in other areas of your life, so that you can explore them in real time.
For example, if you have a pattern of keeping people at arm’s length and avoiding real connection, I’m going to feel that disconnection while I’m in your presence.
Working relationally means that I’m going to give you that honest feedback of how I’m experiencing you in the present moment, so you can learn about the impact you have on others.
Core Energetics: the framework that ties it all together
Core Energetics works by combining talk, movement, breath, and emotional expression to help you reach the deeper layers of your experience. It helps you access the places where old patterns live in the body — and release the charge that keeps them running your life.
It’s powerful, experiential work that helps you feel more grounded, open, and alive.
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Core Energetics is based on the idea that our bodies, emotions, and defenses are all connected. The patterns we developed early in life show up in our muscular tension, our breathing, our posture, and the ways we protect ourselves in relationships.
This approach works with the whole system — not just thoughts — to help you shift patterns at their roots.Inside this work you’ll explore:
How emotions live in the body — and how expression creates relief and clarity
How defenses formed to protect you — and how they operate now as automatic habits
How charge and energy build up in your system — and how to safely release and transform it
How to reconnect with your strength, truth, and vitality — the parts that get buried under armor
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Sessions are active, experiential, and collaborative. We might talk, but we also work with what’s happening in your body, breath, and emotions in real time. The work can involve:
Grounding and breathwork to help you settle or access more energy
Mindful movement or posture work to explore where you hold tension or armor
Safe emotional expression (like anger, sadness, or boundaries) to release stuck charge
Exploring the “mask” — the protective identity you developed to survive
Connecting with your “core” — the grounded, authentic part of you that wants more from life
Nothing is forced. Everything is at your pace, with support, clarity, and safety.
The goal isn’t to be dramatic — it’s to be real.You stay present, embodied, and connected while exploring what’s underneath the surface.
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Core Energetics helps you create change where talking alone often plateaus. Through embodied work, people commonly experience:
More emotional freedom — fewer shutdowns, less reactivity
Greater resilience — feeling grounded instead of overwhelmed
Clearer boundaries and communication
More aliveness — energy, motivation, presence
Deeper intimacy — the ability to stay open instead of collapsing or defending
A stronger sense of self — confidence that comes from inside, not performance
As your body and nervous system shift, your habits, relationships, and sense of possibility shift too.
You feel more like yourself — connected, grounded, and fully alive.
core energetics is for you if…
Talk therapy seems surface level and you want something deeper
You’re open to experiential, somatic work
You’re ready to explore the emotional patterns beneath the surface
You want to feel more grounded, present, and connected
You’re tired of wearing a mask and want to get in touch with your full personality
core energetics is not for you if…
You prefer strictly talk-based, insight-only therapy
You’re not ready for body-based or experiential approaches
You’re seeking quick fixes without deeper exploration
You just want to vent
together, we will:
explore
The patterns, habits, and emotional responses that keep looping in your life — with curiosity rather than judgment.
uncover
The deeper roots of these patterns in your nervous system and body, including old defenses that once protected you but now limit you.
Regain
A stronger sense of self, emotional freedom, and the ability to show up with clarity, depth, and authenticity — in your relationships and in your life.
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Sessions are active and experiential.
We might talk, breathe, explore emotions, or use gentle movement to connect you to what’s happening beneath the surface. You’re always in control, and everything we do is tailored to your pace and comfort level. -
No one is forced into expression — but expression is an important part of Core Energetics.
Many of us learned early on to shut down anger, grief, or even joy. That shutdown becomes a defense that keeps us stuck. In this work, we gently explore your expressive range at a pace that feels safe for your system.
Some sessions are quiet and internal.
Some sessions involve more physical or emotional expression.You never have to perform.
But you will be invited — with support — to contact the parts of you that have been held back, numbed, or tightened for years. That’s often where the biggest breakthroughs happen. -
Yes and no. We talk — but we also include the body, because that’s where old patterns, defenses, and emotional blocks live. This approach tends to create faster, deeper shifts than talk therapy alone.
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Most people who come to me feel disconnected, shut down, or overwhelmed by their emotions. You don’t need to be “good” at anything. We go slowly, gently, and with a lot of support.
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Not in a re-traumatizing way — but we may work with old experiences if they still carry charge in the body.
Core Energetics doesn’t just tell your story again. It helps your body complete what it couldn’t do in the moment — like setting boundaries, expressing anger, speaking truth, or moving energy that got frozen.
Sometimes that involves recalling a specific memory while also giving your body the tools and expression it never had at the time.
This can include:
grounding
breathwork
safe embodied aggression
vocal expression
supportive physical movement
somatic boundary-setting
The aim is resolution, not reliving.
And we only go there when you have the internal resources to do it safely. -
Schedule a free consultation. We’ll talk about what’s been showing up for you, what you’re wanting, and whether this approach feels like the right fit.
frequently asked questions
“Only a person who risks is free.”
Leo buscaglia