Helping you enjoy the life you’ve worked so hard to build.
You know how to handle pressure. You may not know how to turn it off anymore.
You’re used to being the person who handles things. You solve problems, make decisions, manage responsibilities, and keep going when other people might struggle. People count on you, and most of the time, you come through. You’ve gotten very good at being “on.”
But lately, it may feel like there are too many tabs open all the time.
Even when the workday or shift is over, your brain isn’t necessarily done.
You’re thinking about what didn’t get finished, what needs your attention tomorrow, who needs something from you, or what could go wrong if you stop paying attention for five minutes.
So you find ways to wind down. Maybe that’s…
A drink at the end of the day
Maybe it’s working longer
Scrolling which leads to spending
Shutting people out
Losing your temper
Finding something intense enough to finally quiet everything else
And maybe something that used to help isn’t helping quite the same way anymore.
Being the go-to person has consequences.
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If you’re an executive or leader...
You spend your day making decisions, solving problems, putting out fires, and being the person other people look to when something needs to get done.
But when you finally get home, your body may be there while your attention is still somewhere else.
Maybe you:
• Keep checking email, replaying conversations, or mentally working tomorrow’s problems long after the workday is over.
• Notice that one drink has become two or three, or that cutting back requires a surprising amount of negotiation with yourself.
• Keep telling yourself things will settle down after this quarter, this project, this hire, this crisis...but somehow there’s always another one.
If you’re a professional...
You’ve trained for this. You’ve earned the degree, certification, license, position, or expertise. You may even spend your days helping, advising, managing, or caring for other people.
Maybe you:
• Hear yourself giving someone else advice about stress, boundaries, sleep, drinking, or taking care of themselves and think, “I should probably take my own advice.”
• Notice you’re more impatient with coworkers, clients, patients, or the people waiting for you at home.
• Feel less interested in work you once cared deeply about and wonder when everything started feeling like Groundhog Day.
• Know enough about mental health, stress, or behavior change that part of you thinks you really shouldn’t need help figuring this out.
If you’re a first responder...
Your work asks you to function normally in situations that aren’t normal.
You may be very good at compartmentalizing, staying focused when things get ugly, and doing what needs to be done. The harder part may be what happens after the shift is over.
Maybe you:
• Come home exhausted but still can’t sleep, or sleep at odd hours and never quite feel rested.
• Pick up another shift, side job, or overtime because being busy feels easier than sitting still...or sometimes easier than being at home.
• Need something stronger, louder, faster, or more distracting to come down after a shift.
• Notice alcohol, gambling, sex, spending, anger, isolation, or another way of decompressing starting to create problems of its own.
And underneath all of it may be one particularly frustrating thought:
I should be able to figure this out.
You’ve handled harder things. Other people rely on you. You may even be the person people come to when they need help.
So how can you be this capable in so many parts of your life and still feel stuck here?
The problem isn’t that you can’t handle a demanding life. You’ve been doing that for years.
The question is whether the ways you’ve learned to handle it are still working for you.
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Hi, I’m Dr. Jo
Things can work differently without changing everything that matters to you.
I don’t believe good therapy starts with telling you what you should do. It starts with understanding what’s happening, what’s driving it, and what actually needs to change.
My approach is practical, collaborative, and evidence-based. We will talk honestly about stress, trauma, alcohol or substance use, relationships, work, and the ways you’ve learned to cope without assuming there’s only one right way forward.
We’ll keep what works, change what doesn’t, and build more sustainable ways to manage the demands of your life and still have room to actually enjoy it.
Therapy that fits the demands of your actual life.
Addiction Therapy
You don’t have to fit a stereotype or commit to a particular recovery philosophy to take a closer look at your relationship with alcohol or other substances. We’ll look at the role they’re playing in your life, what you want to be different, and what meaningful change could look like.
Therapy for Stress Management
When you’re used to functioning under pressure, chronic stress can become normal long before it becomes sustainable. We’ll look at what’s adding to the load, what’s helping and what’s making things harder, and practical ways to handle the demands of your life and still have room to enjoy it.
Therapy for Executives & Professionals
Success doesn’t protect you from burnout, relationship strain, default stress habits, or the cumulative effects of always being “on.” Therapy gives you a confidential place to deal with what’s happening without assuming you need to dismantle the career or life you’ve worked hard to build.
Therapy for First Responders
Your work comes with a particular kind of pressure: repeated exposure, unpredictable schedules, and responsibility for other people’s emergencies. We’ll look at how the stress and trauma exposure that come with the job are affecting you outside of work, including your relationships and ways of decompressing that may have worked for a while but aren’t working as well anymore.
Before we change a pattern,
it helps to understand what it’s doing.
Most of the ways we cope developed for a reason. They helped us manage stress, get through something difficult, shut things off, stay in control, or keep going.
The problem is that something can keep doing the job you rely on it for even after the costs begin to outweigh the benefits. It can be hard to recognize when what you’re getting from it is no longer worth what it’s costing you. Changing default coping usually takes more than recognizing the problem. It takes a plan.
Working with me isn’t about taking away something that’s helping. We’ll look at how the pattern developed, what purpose it’s serving now, and what would need to take its place.
Start with what’s strong. Build from there.
Schedule a consultation
Choose a time for a free consultation so we can talk briefly about what’s bringing you to therapy, what you’re looking for, and whether I may be a good fit.
Decide where to start
You don’t have to have everything figured out before you get here.
Get to work
We won’t just talk about what’s happening. We’ll figure out what’s driving it, what keeps it going, and where change can make the biggest difference.