Sage and Pine Therapy
My Therapuetic Approach,Values, and Beliefs
Your healing is yours, but you do not have to do it alone.
My Story
I grew up in a community where many people could have benefited from therapy but lacked access. My lived experiences have deepened my understanding of resilience, equipping me with the insight and empathy to support others through life’s challenges. At a certain point in life, I knew that truly helping others required more than instinct, it demanded knowledge and skill. Over the years, I have poured my heart into learning effective tools to help people through their difficult circumstances, and it has been a profound honor to be a small part of their path towards healing.
Mental health is deeply personal, and many people are not equipped with the tools to navigate difficult emotions. At my core, I believe in the power of human connection. People need people. My goal is to offer meaningful strategies that empower individuals to navigate life with greater clarity, balance, and ease. Everyone deserves that.
My Values & Beliefs
Empathy and Compassion
Therapy is about creating a supportive environment where you feel heard and understood without judgment. I aim to connect with what you are going through and trust the wisdom you gained through your lived experience. Believing your truth as how you see it, not as how I imagine your experience to be.
Commitment to Growth and Learning
The field of therapy is always evolving, and the most effective therapists are the ones who keep learning, whether that’s new research, different techniques, or just expanding my understanding of different perspectives. Staying open to growth helps ensure clients get the best possible support I can give.
Respect for Autonomy
A therapist is there to guide, but healing comes from within. My goal isn’t to tell you what to do, it’s to help you discover your own path, build self-awareness, and feel empowered to make choices for yourself. I just get the honor of supporting you through that journey.
My Approach
I am a therapist who has a person-centered foundation that integrates ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) to support clients in meaningful ways. My approach emphasizes unconditional positive regard and deep empathy while providing structured strategies for thought patterns, emotional regulation, and behavior change.
In practice, this means I work collaboratively with clients, honoring their unique experiences and strengths while helping them build skills for psychological flexibility (ACT), challenge unhelpful thinking patterns (CBT), and regulate emotions effectively (DBT). My goal is to create a safe, nonjudgmental space where clients feel empowered to explore their challenges, gain insight, and develop tools that support lasting change.
Evidence-Based Methods That I Use to Help
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people by identifying and changing unhelpful thought patterns, emotional responses, and behaviors. It’s an evidence-based approach that focuses on the connection between thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Here’s how it works:
Identifying Negative Thought Patterns
CBT helps individuals recognize automatic, often distorted thoughts that contribute to anxiety, depression, or other challenges. These thoughts might include catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, or assuming the worst in situations.
Challenging and Reframing Thoughts
Once negative thought patterns are identified, CBT teaches people to challenge their validity and replace them with more balanced, realistic perspectives. For example, instead of thinking, “I’m a failure,” a person might learn to reframe it as, “I made a mistake, but I can learn from it.”
Developing Coping Strategies
CBT provides practical skills for managing distressing emotions, including relaxation techniques, behavioral experiments, and mindfulness practices. These strategies help individuals cope with stress, anxiety, and depression in a healthier way.
Changing Behaviors
CBT encourages individuals to examine and modify behaviors that reinforce negative emotions. If avoidance fuels anxiety, CBT might involve gradual exposure to feared situations to build confidence and resilience
Improving Emotional Regulation
CBT equips people with tools to better manage emotional responses, helping them react more effectively to life’s challenges rather than feeling overwhelmed or stuck.
Building Long-Term Resilience
By practicing cognitive restructuring and behavioral techniques, individuals gain skills that foster long-term emotional well-being, improving relationships, decision-making, and overall mental health.
CBT is widely used for anxiety, depression, trauma, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and many other mental health concerns. Its structured, goal-oriented nature makes it effective for short-term and long-term therapy.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps people by providing practical tools for managing intense emotions, improving relationships, and developing healthier coping strategies. DBT is widely used for anxiety, depression, trauma, and emotional dysregulation.
DBT focuses on four key areas:
Mindfulness
DBT helps individuals stay present in the moment rather than getting overwhelmed by past regrets or future worries. It encourages nonjudgmental awareness of thoughts and emotions, allowing people to respond intentionally instead of reacting impulsively.
Distress Tolerance
DBT provides strategies for managing intense emotions and crises without resorting to harmful behaviors. Techniques like distraction, self-soothing, and radical acceptance help individuals navigate difficult situations while maintaining emotional stability.
Emotion Regulation
DBT focuses on identifying, understanding, and adjusting emotional responses. Individuals learn how to reduce emotional vulnerability, increase positive experiences, and shift unhealthy patterns of reacting to stress or conflict
Interpersonal Effectiveness
DBT strengthens communication skills, assertiveness, and boundary-setting to improve relationships. It teaches individuals how to express needs clearly, handle conflict constructively, and build healthy, supportive connections with others.
DBT is structured and practical, giving people tangible tools to manage emotions and interactions more effectively.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people by encouraging them to accept their thoughts and emotions rather than trying to change or suppress them. It focuses on psychological flexibility, which allows individuals to adapt their thoughts and behaviors to align with their values and goals.
Cognitive Defusion
Also known as ‘thought distancing.’ This technique helps individuals detach from their thoughts. Instead of seeing thoughts as absolute truths, ACT encourages recognizing them as mere mental events. For example, if someone thinks, “I’m not good enough,” they can learn to say, “I’m having the thought that I’m not good enough,” which reduces its emotional impact and prevents it from dictating actions
Acceptance
Rather than suppressing or fighting painful emotions, ACT teaches people to accept them. Struggling against negative feelings often leads to greater distress, whereas accepting them allows for a more constructive response. For example, someone dealing with anxiety might acknowledge, “I feel anxious, and that’s okay,” rather than trying to force themselves to feel calm.
Present Moment Awareness
Practicing mindfulness helps individuals stay grounded in the present instead of being consumed by regrets from the past or worries about the future. ACT encourages engaging fully in each moment, whether it’s through deep breathing, sensory awareness, or focusing on immediate tasks. This fosters greater clarity and emotional balance.
Self-as-Context
This concept encourages individuals to recognize that they are not defined by their thoughts, emotions, or life experiences. Instead of saying, “I am anxious,” ACT helps people see themselves as an observer of their thoughts: “I am experiencing anxiety.” This creates space for individuals to take action without being controlled by their internal states.
Values Clarification
ACT emphasizes identifying core values—such as compassion, integrity, creativity, or connection—that provide direction for life choices. Rather than chasing temporary happiness, individuals learn to take actions aligned with their values, which leads to deeper fulfillment
Committed Action
ACT encourages purposeful action based on one’s values, even in the presence of discomfort or fear. Instead of waiting until they feel “ready,” individuals take meaningful steps toward their goals. For instance, someone who values family connection might commit to reaching out to loved ones regularly, even if social anxiety makes it uncomfortable.
The goal of ACT isn’t to eliminate negative feelings, it’s to build psychological flexibility so people can live a meaningful life despite challenges.