Helping Driven Women Navigate the Complexities of Career, Relationships and Motherhood
My PhilosophyTherapy is a relationship. It matters that it feels right —that you feel it, and that I do too.
My approach is grounded in relational psychodynamic psychotherapy, with integration of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy when it’s clinically helpful for OCD relief. This means our work is not only about symptom relief but about understanding the deeper patterns shaping your inner world and your relationships.
I do not offer a brief consultation call. Instead, we will begin with a handful of initial consultation sessions to get a feel for one another and to understand what you are hoping for in therapy. Some thoughts to explore during this phase might be: Do I feel comfortable here? Can I speak openly? Do I feel understood? I will ask: Can I meaningfully help you? Does this feel like a good clinical fit?
MY STORY
MY STORY
Meet Joanna
My path to becoming a therapist was not linear. After more than a decade working as an attorney, I found myself drawn toward a different kind of work—one that made space for the parts of life that are not easily solved or reasoned through. While I valued the intellectual challenge of the legal profession, I became increasingly curious about people's inner worlds as I encountered moments in my own life that left me feeling overwhelmed, uncertain, and searching for answers that logic alone could not provide. Through these experiences, I learned how healing it can be to have a therapeutic space that offers support, genuine connection, and the opportunity to understand and put words to difficult emotional experiences.
What continues to inspire me in my private practice is the opportunity to sit with women in moments that are deeply human: the longing for connection, the pain of loss, the uncertainty of change, and the hope that life can feel different.
While each story is unique, I understand the emotional landscape of this work—the way grief, anxiety, and longing can live beneath the surface, even when nothing looks visibly wrong from the outside. I find this work especially meaningful because I recognize how heavy it can feel to carry these experiences alone, and how powerful it can be to finally feel understood in them by another.
At the heart of my work is a belief that meaningful change happens in the context of feeling understood. Not only for presenting concerns, but for the lived emotional experience beneath them.
If this resonates, please reach out to schedule an initial consultation session.
MY APPROACH
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My work is grounded in relational psychodynamic psychotherapy. Together, we look beyond surface-level symptoms to understand the deeper patterns shaping your internal world and relationships. It is not about “fixing” you or focusing only on symptoms but about creating space to understand yourself more fully, allowing you to move through your life and relationships with greater clarity, flexibility, and a stronger sense of self.
In our work, we will gently explore:recurring relationship patterns
how you experience closeness, distance, and vulnerability
the ways you may hold things in or take on more than you show
how past experiences continue to shape present feelings and expectations
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This kind of work can be especially helpful if you find yourself repeating the same patterns in relationships, feeling stuck in ways you don’t fully understand, or noticing that insight alone hasn’t led to lasting change.
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I practice ERP for clients experiencing OCD.
ERP is an evidence-based approach that helps you:
gradually face feared thoughts, images, or situations
reduce compulsive or avoidant responses
build tolerance for uncertainty and distress
I have a special interest in working with women in the perinatal and postpartum period of life.
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You may benefit from ERP if you find yourself:
Experiencing intrusive, unwanted thoughts that feel upsetting or out of character
Repeatedly checking, washing, cleaning, or seeking reassurance to feel certain or safe
Avoiding people, places, situations, or responsibilities because they trigger anxiety
Mentally reviewing conversations, memories, or decisions to make sure you didn't make a mistake
Repeating actions until they feel "just right"
Feeling trapped in cycles of doubt, uncertainty, or fear despite knowing your worries may be excessive
Specialties
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SURROGACY & THIRD-PARTY REPRODUCTION
Whether working with a gestational carrier, an egg donor, or embryo donor, your path to motherhood can bring hope alongside complex and often unexpected emotions. Together, we make space to understand your experience so it feels less overwhelming and more manageable.
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INFERTILITY & PREGNANCY LOSS
You may be carrying grief, hope, anxiety, and uncertainty all at once, and often in ways that feel hard to put into words. Together, we create space to understand and hold these experiences so they feel less isolating and more bearable.
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WORKING MOMS
You may be carrying exhaustion, guilt, and the constant mental load of managing both work and family, often with little space left for yourself. Together, we create space to understand and soften these experiences so they feel less overwhelming and more supported.
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WOMEN ATTORNEYS
You may be carrying relentless pressure, perfectionism, and the expectation that you should always have it together, even when it comes at the expense of your own well-being. Together, we create space to understand these patterns with curiosity and compassion so they become less consuming and more manageable.
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OCD & INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS
Living with OCD can feel confusing, exhausting, and deeply isolating. Whether you've been living with OCD for years or are just beginning to understand what's happening, therapy can help you make sense of your experience so it feels less frightening, more understandable, and less all-consuming.
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RELATIONSHIP CONFLICT & EMOTIONAL DISCONNECTION
You may find yourself overthinking, questioning your decisions, or feeling stuck in the same relationship dynamics. Together, we begin to understand what’s underneath so these patterns feel less overwhelming and more within your control.
Expertly Trained, Purposeful Connection
Two-Year Clinical Fellowship, Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute
Advanced Psychodynamic Program, St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute
Certified in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Postpartum Support International
Certified in Mental Health Treatment of Infertility, Levels 1 and 2, American Society of Reproductive Medicine
Clinically Trained in Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD, Cognitive Behavioral Institute
HOW TO WORK WITH ME
HOW TO WORK WITH ME
HOW TO WORK WITH ME HOW TO WORK WITH ME
Ready to Get Started?
If something here resonated with you, please reach out about an initial consultation through my contact page. Your first session is a full session, where we begin getting a sense of what’s bringing you in and whether working together feels like a fit.