Additional Issues

When you have a blended family, your marriage takes on a whole new level of complexity. Successfully navigating through co-parenting, family dynamics, and role clarity are challenges Missy can help you with.

Prepare for the marriage, not just the wedding. Unresolved issues in the engagement are only magnified in marriage. Missy can help prepare you with the skills and insight to have a healthy and vibrant marriage.

Sometimes the influence of your spouse’s family of origin and your own family of origin can introduce problematic dynamics in the marriage. Setting appropriate and healthy boundaries can protect both your relationship with your spouse as well as the relationships with both families of origin.

Sometimes you are the only one willing to work on the issue. Even if your spouse, children, or parents aren’t willing, there’s still a lot you can do to impact your family or marriage.

The causes and effects of mental health issues on individuals and couples are wide ranging, and far too many people suffer when real help is available. Missy is passionate about creating a non-judgmental, non-stigmatizing space where you can face these challenges and become part of the solution. Whether you are seeking help for an individual mental health concern or for the health of your relationship, she would love to join you in your journey.

Anger outbursts create an unsafe and toxic environment. When any relationship becomes abusive (sexual, physical, or emotional) that system will inevitably break down. Missy can walk alongside individuals and couples to help find new ways to navigate through intense emotions and difficult situations so that relationships can thrive and grow in a safer, calmer, and more respectful environment.

Traumas from past events and relationships, as well as traumas experienced within families and marriages can significantly impact individual functioning and relationships. As a trauma-trained therapist, Missy uses several evidence-based approaches to help foster healing, both individually and in the relationships around you.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person’s life. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response.

Missy can provide PTSD diagnosis with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5). She is trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and Brainspotting.

Learn more about trauma therapy with a trauma-trained therapist

Sexual addiction wreaks havoc on relationships, and a relationship cannot truly heal or thrive while the addiction is active. Missy works with couples affected by sexual addiction, helping both partners address its impact on the relationship and begin rebuilding trust. For the partner struggling with the addiction, she provides referrals to specialized resources for individual recovery and sobriety, so personal healing and healing as a couple can happen side by side.

Brainspotting is effective for a wide variety of emotional and somatic conditions. Brainspotting is particularly effective with trauma-based situations, helping to identify and heal underlying trauma that contributes to anxiety, depression and other behavioral conditions. It can also be used with performance and creativity enhancement. Brainspotting gives the therapist access to both brain and body processes. Its goal is to bypass the conscious, neocortical thinking to access the deeper, subcortical emotional and body-based parts of the brain. http://www.brainspotting.com

Learn more about Brainspotting