Who’s Running the Meeting? Moving from Internal Combat to Internal Cooperation.
Imagine you’re sitting at a heavy, worn oak dining table. It’s quiet in the room, but inside your chest, it sounds like a busy restaurant at 7:00 PM. Someone is shouting about the email you forgot to send. Someone else is whispering that you’re a fraud. A third person is pacing, trying to figure out how to look "normal" so no one notices the first two.
This is the somatic reality of internal conflict—it isn't just a mental experience. It’s the tightness in your throat, the shallow breath, and the persistent hum of adrenaline that tells your body you aren’t safe, even when you’re sitting on your own couch.
We often call this "Parts Work," but that can sound a bit sterile. In practice, it feels less like a clinical theory and more like diplomacy. When we feel overwhelmed, it’s because our internal system has descended into a chaotic argument where every part is trying to take the lead at once. You aren't "bad" or "defective" for having these conflicting impulses; you’re simply a conductor who hasn't yet had the chance to lead your own orchestra.
Instead of trying to "fix," silence, or kill the parts of you that cause trouble—the inner critic, the perfectionist, or the protector who demands you mask—what if we invited them to a table meeting?
This is where the true value of private-pay care emerges. Insurance-based models are often built on a "fix-it" approach—silencing symptoms quickly to meet a diagnostic code. But this work is different. It is an attuned, unhurried orchestration. Because we aren't tethered to insurance labels, we have the space to sit with the "Go Part" that’s hyper-vigilant and ask it what it’s actually protecting, rather than just forcing it to be quiet.
We move from "What is wrong with me?" to "What is my internal team trying to communicate?" We acknowledge that your defensiveness is actually a protector, not a defect. When we create this visual space—this table—for your 'pleasing' self, your 'authentic' self, and your 'fearing' self to sit together, the system begins to settle. Your Adult Self finally takes the conductor’s stand, and the internal combat shifts into cooperation.
Ready to trade the relentless internal civil war for a seat at the table?
I provide 100% virtual, neuro-affirming somatic therapy for adults across Minnesota who are ready to move from a chaotic inner tug-of-war into a life of embodied, values-aligned peace.
About the Clinical Approach
My work is rooted in a somatic, trauma-informed perspective that honors the body as the primary site of healing. I integrate Internal Family Systems (IFS) to facilitate self-leadership, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for nervous system regulation, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you align with your deepest values. As a neuro-affirming therapist, I do not pathologize your lived experience; instead, I hold space for the unique, often non-linear ways your system has learned to survive. My practice is intentionally private-pay, ensuring that your care is unique, unrushed, and entirely free from the constraints of insurance labels or cookie-cutter protocols. We work together as humans—not as "expert" and "patient"—to build a sustainable path toward peace that honors your capacity, your autonomy, and your humanity.
