About Lyn
My Experience
I got my Master's degree at Northwestern University with a focus on relational therapy, i.e. how a nurturing relationship with a therapist can heal wounds from trauma, small and large. My internship at Kavod Psychotherapy working with individuals struggling with sex and porn addiction reinforced this training. I was fortunate then to learn Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) from two of the best OCD therapists in Rochester, Katarina Asbury, LMHC, and Lauren Wadsworth, PhD.
I have worked with individuals experiencing anxiety, OCD, perfectionism and the effects of trauma for 5+ years. In addition, my experience as an art teacher for 20+ years taught me how to address anxiety in my students and help them to push through their fears.
My Story
I am the product of parents who, repressed due to religion and culture and trauma, were able to take care of our physical needs but not our emotional needs. I learned early to escape harsh criticism by making myself as small as possible, ideally, invisible. Mostly I did this by being a good girl, perfectionistic with a strong, overactive internal critic. Healing for me has been a process of becoming aware of my internal critic's messages; the defenses I used to push people away; being exposed to different, less controlled ways of being; deep involvement in flow states; and experimenting with behavioral challenges. Always with the voice of my therapist in my head: "notice with interest," "be curious not judgmental."
My Approach
I listen deeply to your concerns and synthesize a treatment strategy that takes what you say and integrates that with the following:
Mindful awareness, Curiosity, and Insight
Behavioral experiments (i.e. trying new ways of acting)
Finding Meaning and Flow
I am committed to the exercise of cultural humility in counseling, with the knowledge that it is my responsibility to continually expand my understanding of how individuals with marginalized identities are impacted by the politics of race, class, gender, and sexuality.