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About
Licensed Psychologist, Colorado | Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Hi, I'm Dr. Rachel...
Hi, I'm Dr. Rachel...
As a licensed psychologist, my passion is using the most effective methods, tailored to your unique experiences, to help bring about the change you want in your life. When things seem overwhelming, we break them down and make them doable. You'll get no judgment from me. Believe me, your problems, your situation, your personality, your past - it's all understandable.
Here's what you can expect from working with me:
The intro call.
The intro call.
We schedule a 20-30 minute FREE introductory video call with me to see if we might be a good fit for working together.
I only schedule future, paid appointments with people I have a good sense that I can help with the training and tools I have.
Most people have a good sense during that first meeting as well if I'm going to be a good fit for them.
When we both feel I have a good grasp of the circumstances bringing you to therapy, we briefly discuss what goals we might work on together.
I share about my approach and the TEAM model of therapy.
The intake session.
(1 session)
The intake session.
(1 session)
The first appointment is spent getting to know you.
I ask you questions and use the forms you completed to learn about who you are, where you've been, and what life is like for you.
We often talk a bit about family of origin, current living situation, experiences in schooling and work, and any other contextual information either of us may find useful.
We then talk more specifically about what is bringing you to therapy at this time.
I want to know the nature of your concerns, what's been bothering you, for how long, what it feels like for you, what bothers you the most about it.
The treatment plan.
(1-2 sessions)
The treatment plan.
(1-2 sessions)
Once you feel I have a very good understanding of what you've shared with me so far, I want to learn about what your hope is for our work together: What specifically might you be hoping to get from therapy? What change would you be hoping to see in yourself - in how you feel, think, or act?
It's also quite common to feel uncertain about what you even want from therapy, or what's even possible for you. That's okay! When this is the case, people often find clarity over time and we can reevaluate your hopes and goals as we move along.
Once we have some important background established on you, we can start moving toward developing a treatment plan, using measurable objectives so we can track your progress.
The therapy sessions.
(3-16+ sessions)
The therapy sessions.
(3-16+ sessions)
Read here about what to expect from a therapy session with me.
I start sessions checking in on how you're feeling right now, how you've felt since our previous session, and then work with you to create an agenda for our session.
This part is really important to me because I want to make sure we're covering what's most important to you in every session.
Sometimes it will be continuing the work on progressing toward your specified goals and trying out powerful techniques to get you moving forward.
Other times, it may be that you're needing space to process something painful or upsetting, or you're needing to feel heard and understood.
Once we have an agenda, we jump right in to getting to work, or slow it down and spend time processing and building empathy, understanding, and emotional support for your experience.
Throughout our work, I'm checking for: understanding (do you feel seen, heard, and understood by me?), progress (are you moving in the direction you want to be?), and change (are you actually getting results - either in how you feel, how you think, or what you do?). In fact, I'm so interested in these things that everyone who works with me completes a brief survey after every session to measure these areas. That means you get a chance *every session* to share with me what you like most, what you liked least, and how on track we are with your goals. We also measure your progress in every session to make sure we're on the right path. If we're not, we make adjustments to our approach.
Every session where appropriate, we assign action items (aka: psychotherapy homework) - either practicing skills or specific exercises we did in session, "experiments" or new behaviors for you to try out on your own, or simply something to reflect on throughout the week. Much of the work in our sessions gets solidified in this step.
The end of therapy.
The end of therapy.
This is ultimately the goal, right? That you would be able to leave therapy with the tools, healing, recovery, and growth that you were looking for. This is my ultimate hope for you. I believe in helping you get a good return on your investment, so I'm committed to teaching you the tools we use in session, so when one tool is helpful for you, you get to take it with you for the rest of your life.
At times, people come back to therapy for a tune-up or some help when something new comes up in life, or if there's some difficulty applying the tools. This is often accomplished in just a couple of sessions - like finding your way back onto the highway after you found yourself having taken an off-ramp.
I feel so passionate about this process because I've seen it *work* for so many people. It's amazing when you can finally get unstuck from something you've been struggling with, start seeing something clearly that seemed so overwhelming and confusing, and start seeing the results from your hard work in therapy.
If this sounds like what you're looking for, reach out to me today to get scheduled or ask some questions!
I am a licensed psychologist with a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University, where I completed my doctoral training in 2018.
My expertise covers a wide range of psychological disorders and mental health challenges, with specialized training in managing stress, anxiety, panic, grief, feelings of hopelessness, loss of purpose, isolation, and relationship difficulties.
The most frequent diagnoses I treat are Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Borderline Personality Disorder.
The specific theoretical frameworks I use and have received additional training in are: TEAM-CBT (an enhanced model of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Interpersonal and Social Rhythms Therapy (IPSRT) for Bipolar Disorders.
I have experience working with all of the following ages:
Preteens / Tweens (ages 11 to 13)
Adolescents / Teenagers (ages 14 to 19)
Adults (all ages)
Elders (ages 65+)
A note about couples or family therapy: I personally do not treat couples or families, but often people who are willing to do individual work in therapy find many ways of improving their relationships through these techniques. I can teach you specific relationship skills to improve your interactions with others including how to become an extremely effective listener and conflict resolver. This work is very fun, challenging, and doesn't require another person to be present in the session with you.
Fun facts!
Fun facts!
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania and still love driving through the idyllic Pennsylvania farmland whenever I visit.
I lived four years in Virginia earning my B.S. in Psychology before moving to Colorado in 2012 for my MS and PhD in Counseling Psychology at Colorado State University.
I lived in Colorado (Fort Collins and Denver) for 9 years and worked in Cheyenne, Wyoming for 2 years before moving to Europe in 2021 (mostly to eat the food, but also for the adventure). My Colorado practice has been fully virtual since then, which has allowed me to offer the unique appointment times that I do. My Colorado virtual practice is my full time work and I'm 100% focused on my private practice patients.
In addition to eating all the best food I can find, I love absorbing the culture of a new city, hiking with my partner, practicing yoga, reading for my book club, and drinking amazing coffee (yes, it's a mild addiction, and no, I'm not motivated to change it).
For those interested in learning powerful, research-backed tools for personal growth and life enhancement, but do not require clinical treatment, coaching from a psychologist can be an optimal option. See my coaching page to learn more about doing personal growth or life-enhancement coaching with me.
Credentials
Credentials
Licensed Psychologist in the state of Colorado (PSY 5104) since 2019
Licensed Psychologist in the state of Illinois (071021070) since 2025
Licensed Psychologist in the state of Wyoming (#679) from 2018-2023
Post-doctoral experience at LIV Health In-Home Counseling and Case Management 2018/2019
APA Accredited Doctoral internship at Community Reach Center in Thornton, Colorado 2017/2018
APA Accredited Doctoral (PhD) program in Counseling Psychology at Colorado State University 2012-2018
What to expect from your therapy session
What to expect from your therapy session
We check on how you are doing today and since our previous session with a brief mood scale. I think of this like getting your vitals taken when you go to your physician's office.
We check on how action items from last session went. We almost always have homework or goals to work on between sessions since it's been shown to significantly improve therapy outcomes.
We set a topic for the session together. We will always work on something that you choose. If you're not sure where to even start, I provide guidance
I provide empathy and support, checking-in to ensure you feel 100% heard and understood before getting to work on any techniques for change
We flexibly and creatively use a variety of powerful, evidence-based techniques and methods to help you bring about change or acceptance of the problem you're wanting help with
Around 10 minutes until the end of the session, we start planning action items for the next week. We make sure the action plan feels doable, makes sense to you, and feels very relevant to what you're dealing with
We discuss your takeaways from the session. Writing down your takeaways helps solidify your memory of what you found useful from our session.
We discuss feedback from you on how you think our session went and what could be improved. We do this verbally and through a very brief therapy session rating form at the end of every session. Research shows that asking for feedback is connected to better results - even when the feedback is critical or negative!
What do we talk about?
There are many topics that might be covered in an individual therapy session. The beauty of psychotherapy is that nothing is off limits! You get to have an incredibly special place that feels safe and where you feel free to explore any topic that is on your mind, without judgement.
Therapy does take effort and commitment from everyone involved. There are amazingly powerful therapeutic techniques, but like most treatments, they will only work as much as you do! This article might be helpful in determining if or when therapy might be right for you.
Some Good Reasons You Might NOT Want to Work with Me
Some Good Reasons You Might NOT Want to Work with Me
In addition to making sure we're a good fit interpersonally, here's some practical reasons my practice may not work for you:
In addition to making sure we're a good fit interpersonally, here's some practical reasons my practice may not work for you:
There's a bit of tech involved. You will need a strong stable internet connection, a good device with good lighting, and the ability to download, save, and upload documents onto your patient portal. For those who are visually impaired, or for whom video calls may not be the most appropriate, I do offer phone sessions without camera and have found they can be extremely effective in those circumstances.
Appointments are in the morning (4-9 AM Mountain Time). This availability is because I'm in a different time zone and it allows me to offer a unique slot of hours for scheduling for those who might not be able to schedule during common work hours or those who just prefer to do their therapy in the morning. Many people have tried it and say they prefer it, but it's of course not for everyone.
You'll likely have to do some work outside of sessions to get better. Most people won't feel better without putting effort into trying the techniques, which includes some between-session action. This typically consists of some writing (even jotting down bullet point notes) and thinking about techniques discussed in session as well as sometimes behavioral experiments we create during session. We will always make sure it's a doable assignment and something we both agree on beforehand. Most people find powerful change comes from these between-session action items, so it's a no-brainer if we want therapy to be as quick and effective as possible. I have also worked with people who have learning disorders, ADHD, and physical limitations that require these methods to be modified, and of course, we will consider your unique situation to make sure these assignments are 100% doable.
Tips for a good virtual therapy session
Tips for a good virtual therapy session
Make sure you have a confidential space where you can talk freely without others present. This could be a separate room with a door (ideally) or even a closet or your parked car if needed.
Make sure the device you’re using can be propped up where you’ll be seated without you having to hold it.
It’s great if you can have some natural light on your face (not behind you) to aid my ability to see you well.
Headphones with a microphone can be useful to have nearby in case there’s difficulty with audio quality.
To ensure good bandwidth for the video, it’s best if you can ensure that others are not also utilizing the wifi to stream content at the same time. Test your internet speed to make sure it's sufficient.
I recommend having a pen and paper or an electronic document handy during sessions for writing exercises, action items, and reminders
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