Specialties
Life Transitions
For the in-between stretch after one chapter ends and before the next one feels like yours—even when the change was something you wanted.
Virtual therapy, California and Massachusetts
Some transitions arrive with a clear label: a move across the state, a new job, a breakup, becoming a parent, graduate school, a relationship ending or beginning. Others are harder to name, like a slow realization that the life you built doesn’t quite fit anymore. Either way, the ground shifts, and it’s normal to feel unsteady for a while.
Even a change you wanted can be surprisingly disorienting. A promotion can come with grief for the role you loved. A move you chose can leave you lonelier than you expected. In our work together, there’s room for all of it at once—the excitement, the loss, and the parts of you that haven’t caught up yet.
Why transitions can knock us off balance
Transitions ask you to let go of one version of yourself before the next one is fully formed. Routines change, relationships rearrange themselves, and the identity that used to organize your days—student, partner, the person who lived in that city—may suddenly not apply. Even when you’re moving toward something good, that in-between space can feel strangely empty.
Old patterns tend to resurface here, too. If uncertainty once felt dangerous, a transition can wake up a lot of anxiety, stress and overwhelm. If you learned to cope by staying busy, you may find yourself rushing to fill the gap before you’ve had a chance to feel it.
The parts that rush and the parts that resist
Internal Family Systems offers a helpful way to look at change. Often there’s a part of you that wants to sprint ahead and get settled, and another part that’s digging in its heels, homesick for how things were. Neither is wrong. Each one is trying to protect you in its own way.
Rather than picking a side, we’ll get to know both. What is the rushing part afraid will happen if you slow down? What does the resisting part need before it can let go? Those conversations can make a transition feel less like something happening to you and more like something you’re moving through on purpose. You can read more about how I work on my approach page.
Transitions across adulthood
There’s no single season for change. Your twenties can bring a first job, a first serious relationship and the slightly terrifying freedom of choosing your own life. Later on, a transition might look like a career change, a relationship ending, becoming a parent, or a mid-life moment of asking what you actually want from the years ahead.
Some transitions are shared with a partner, and if you’re facing one together, couples therapy can be a place to work through it side by side. Whatever the change, the work isn’t about getting back to normal as quickly as possible. It’s about understanding what this transition is asking of you, what you want to carry forward, and what you’re ready to set down.
How we’ll work through it
We’d meet for 45 minutes, weekly or every other week, by video—which can be especially useful when life is in flux: you can keep meeting from a new apartment or a new city, as long as you’re in California or Massachusetts. We’ll make space to grieve what’s ending, notice what you’re hoping for, and make decisions from a steadier place rather than a panicked one.
If the transition has stirred up something heavier, like a flatness that won’t lift or a sense of distance from your own life, my page on depression and emotional disconnection may be worth a look too.
If you’re somewhere in the middle of a change and would like company while you find your footing, you’re welcome to request a free 15-minute consultation.
A few common questions
Do I need a big life event to come to therapy for a transition?
Not at all. Some transitions are dramatic, and others are quiet shifts in what you want or who you’re becoming. If something feels like it’s changing and you’d like to understand it, that’s enough.
What if I’m not sure whether to make the change at all?
That’s a very good time to talk. We can look at what each option means to the different parts of you, and what’s making the decision feel so heavy, without rushing you toward an answer.
Can therapy continue if I move?
Yes, as long as you’re physically located in California or Massachusetts at the time of our sessions, since those are the states where I’m licensed. A move within either state, or between them, doesn’t need to interrupt the work.
How we work with this
This most often sits inside individual therapy. 45 minute sessions, weekly or every other week, entirely by video.
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