Depth Psychotherapy: Root and Rhizome

Therapy provides a space to reckon with contradiction, speak the unspeakable, and return complexity to what becomes simplified through trauma. I offer depth psychotherapy that attends to the social-psychological-spiritual complexity of marginalized persons whose bodyminds are often reduced by psychology and mainstream society to inconvenient behaviors or embodiments.

For me, a depth approach entails both Root and Rhizome. My thinking here is guided by lessons from the plant world. Imagine a taproot that ventures deep for stability, to anchor and support life. This vertical growth is supported by rhizomes, modified stems growing horizontally underground (and sometimes above ground) to uptake nutrients, store energy for times of stress, and produce new shoots and roots to ensure survival.

Like the taproot, therapy can support movement towards a new depth of knowing oneself, anchored in purpose and meaning. This process often entails remembering forgotten parts of yourself, navigating shame and sadness, and recovering joy.

My responsibility as a therapist is to both support meaning making and to support you in accessing a rich, fulfilling life. This might entail identifying access needs or working with burnout, anxiety, or depression. Being well resourced and feeling a sense of belonging in the world are often interrupted by oppression and trauma. Together we will work to navigate access barriers and to address the impacts of interpersonal and societal harms of racism, transphobia, ableism, misogyny, and classism.

It is possible to be rooted and lonely and to be well-connected while lacking purpose or meaning in life. In our work together we will attend to these areas of life, untangling the knots of oppression and trauma which act as barriers to connection with yourself and others. In this way, depth psychotherapy supports both the vertical and horizontal, growing both deeper into oneself and carrying these gifts with purpose out into the world.