Hi, there! I'm Summer, and I am so glad you're here.

I am a modern therapist, bringing the best of traditional therapy approaches into the 2020s. We can work on CBT or DBT skills, discuss your childhood, practice deep breathing, discuss the benefits of self-care, and work on the tangles in your life. While we're doing that, I promise not to ask "and how does that make you feel?" a million times or psychoanalyze every little thing you share. I will always work to make you feel like I like you more when you sign off our sessions than I did when you logged on. I will always be authentic and real with you, and I will never make you feel awkward for trying to make a real connection with me. We are in this together, and my role in your life is to create space for whatever you need to put there. I promise that whatever it is that you're feeling or going through is a valid human experience, and I want to be there for you while you get through it.

I am a fully virtual therapist, meaning that all of our work together will be done from the comfort of your home/car/job/wherever you happen to be, with no commute time. Sometimes, it is challenging to make the time to take care of ourselves, and my hope is that by eliminating some of the time requirement, therapy will feel more accessible.

I can't wait to meet you.

Are you ready to connect?

Summer's Specialties

I am especially dedicated to working with moms (birth trauma, NICU support, infertility, coping with motherhood, burnout), with adult women who are managing ADHD, with young adults working through various life transitions, with parents, and with families and couples+.

I describe some of the common work I do with clients below. Contact me to see if I'm a good fit for your needs.

Women

Women who aren't really sure what is wrong, but who know that something is not quite right

Moms struggling to "do it all"

Moms who aren't loving parenting like they thought they would

Women managing ADHD--perhaps for the first time as an adult

Moms struggling with the postpartum phase of life--whether it's anxiety, rage, the baby blues, depression, or just struggling to figure out the new you

Women who are stressed, burned out, and unsure of how to engage in reasonable (and actually helpful) self-care

Women who are having a hard time conceiving a child and need to process their feelings

Women who have experienced birth trauma and need support with coping

Women coping with a NICU experience or with NICU trauma

Women struggling to measure up to all of society's standards

Women with body image issues that stem from diet culture

Women dealing with shame

Highly Sensitive Persons

Women recovering from Emotionally Immature parents

ADHD

Individuals with ADHD have typically spent their entire lives hearing how personal shortcomings are the cause of their problems. In my work, I believe in the importance of deconstructing a lot of the messaging sent to people about neurodivergence. This allows my clients to develop goals that reflect their own values and needs--not the values and needs of a neurotypical society.

A lot of the time, people will come to session saying "I need help doing the things" and most of the time my approach is to ask why--why these particular things? Doing things is important but only if they're important things. I believe only YOU get to say what the important things are, so we start there. Then we develop plans that meet your abilities and needs. I believe that so many executive functioning tools have been used as weapons against those of us who are neurodivergent (that planner we've all been metaphorically beat over the head with, for example), and I believe in the power of making tools work for us.

I am especially passionate in working with women who were diagnosed for the time as adults. Many times, women with ADHD overcompensate with perfectionism or overfunctioning and then they become moms and everything falls apart, leading to that ADHD diagnosis. Or, if you aren't a mom, you overfunctioned in your career and personal life until your system decided it was simply not going to do it anymore. These are normal experiences for women with undiagnosed ADHD. We fly under the radar because our struggles don't align with the generally-accepted view of ADHD.

Does any of this resonate with you? Reach out and let's chat more about how I can help.

Adjustment

Support with planning for the next phase

Adjusting to any life change

Support with figuring life out

Support with feeling restless and unsure of what to do about it

Processing feelings about loss, transition, or change

Students needing support with managing the transition to college

Parenting & Co-parenting

Parenting is, quite simply, the hardest thing I have ever done. I am here for parents who are struggling with how difficult it feels to show up the way they want to for their kids. Some of my specialities include

Parents who need help specializing their parenting for their child's needs
Parents who want to parent differently than they were parented and find the whole experience incredibly triggering
Parents of multiples (I'm a parent of multiples, too, so I get it)
Parents seeking ways to calm the chaos and co-regulate for a more peaceful home
Parents who need help identifying and setting consistent limits and boundaries
Parents who are trying to align their parenting with their values but are finding it difficult to weed out advice from family, social media, and Sharon at Target
Parents who need help with co-parenting
Parents who are struggling with their child's intense feelings or behaviors
Parents who are burned out, tired, and need help

Families

Families that need extra help communicating and connecting

Families with teenagers who are working on the new relationship that comes with aging children

Families that feel like things are just too chaotic at home, and need help calming things down

Parents with adult children who want to strengthen relationships and heal past hurts

Couples+

Intimate partners who want to learn better ways to make decisions together

Intimate partners who want a stronger, closer relationship

Intimate partners who need support healing attachment trauma so they can show up better in their current relationship

Couples+ with neurodivergence who need a therapist who understands how ADHD, autism, or AuDHD show up in relationships

Anyone who feels their relationships are not as strong as they would like for them to be

Anyone searching for relationship support from a kink- and sex-positive therapist

I work with real people with real lives.