Hi, I’m Isabelle.
I'm a therapist who believes healing isn't just about feeling better — it's about learning to be with yourself. Even the hard parts. Especially the hard parts.
I work with people who look like they have it all together. You show up. You deliver. You excel at work. You take care of everyone else. But inside? You're exhausted. Anxious. Sometimes numb. High-functioning can mask a lot of loneliness and be so rewarded in our society that it can be hard to even contemplate shifting it!
A lot of my clients have patterns rooted in self-abandonment. You may know yourself well—you understand why you people-please, why you're hypervigilant, why you can't rest. But knowing logically isn't the same as being able to shift it. That's because the real work isn't just about the patterns themselves. It's about the emotional learnings and beliefs you inherited about yourself. The judgment and criticism that feels protective.
That's where we go together…from judgment toward curiosity and compassion. Understanding not just the logic of your patterns, but the emotional truths underneath them. And what becomes possible when you finally stop abandoning yourself.
I didn't stumble into this work by accident. I've always been drawn to people who are quietly struggling — the ones who smile through it, who achieve despite it, who would never describe themselves as "in crisis" but who are carrying more than anyone realizes.
I've always been fascinated by people — culture, values, rituals, what makes us tick. That's why I studied cultural anthropology, and that curiosity has shaped my whole path: social work, systems thinking, and now private practice. I started my career working in schools, where I saw firsthand how kids — and honestly, the adults around them — had learned to hide, perform, or push through instead of actually processing what they were going through. I kept seeing the same thing in private practice: adults who had mastered the art of looking okay while carrying something heavy just beneath the surface.
Over time I got clearer on what draws me to this work: I'm interested in the gap between how we show up and how we actually feel. The parts of us that learned to over-function, to people-please, to never ask for help. The child parts that still carry old wounds we've tried to outgrow. The tension between who we think we're supposed to be and who we actually are.
That tension? That's where the work begins.
How I Got Here
I'm trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Internal Family Systems (IFS), alongside relational, experiential, and attachment-based approaches that explore how your earliest relationships still show up in your life today. These aren't just modalities — they're frameworks for understanding yourself more fully, and I'm still deepening my own training in them, currently working toward my EMDRIA certification through an ongoing consultation cohort.
That anthropologist in me never really left, either. I approach your patterns the way I'd approach a new place I'm trying to understand — not as something broken, but as something adaptive, that made sense given where it came from. We'll talk about all the layers you exist in that have space in our room — cultural, racial, familial, generational, relational — because none of us were shaped in a vacuum. Every part of you, every defense, every "too much" or "not enough," got built somewhere, for a reason. My job is to help us understand that reason together.
Sessions are conversational but not just talk. We might slow down and notice what's coming up in your body, spend time with a part of you that's been running the show for years, or get curious about a pattern that keeps showing up in your relationships. Sometimes the work is quiet and internal. Sometimes it's surprisingly direct.
A lot of the people I work with grew up learning to manage on their own — to be easy, to not need too much, to figure it out quietly. Being seen and heard isn't always the same as being understood. So much of what I do is about helping you feel actually felt — not just listened to, but met — maybe for the first time.
I'm not interested in helping you cope better with a life that isn't working. I'm interested in helping you understand why it isn't working — and what's possible on the other side of that. We'll move at a pace that feels right for you, building enough safety and trust before going anywhere deeper.
How I Work
-
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) NY - #095787
Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) OH- #I.205786
Master of Social Work (MSW) - New York University- Silver School of Social Work
Bachelor of Arts- University of Pittsburgh Dual Major in Cultural Anthropology & Communications
-
EMDRIA Approved EMDR Basic Training with Coast to Coast EMDR
Internal Family Systems (IFS) Training – Stepping Stones Canada
Advanced Clinical Practice Post-Master’s Certificate – NYU
Integrating Experiential Psychotherapies- Dr. Tori Olds
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Insomnia- CBT-Iweb
Seminar in Field Instruction (SIFI) – NYU Silver School of Social Work
Creative Arts Therapy in Clinical Social Work- NYU Silver School of Social Work
Who I am Beyond a Therapist
I still use that anthropologist's lens for everything — even texting friends about reality TV. I want to know why a ritual exists, not just that it does, and that curiosity doesn't clock out when I leave the office.
Outside the therapy room, it shows up in smaller, sillier ways. I'm all in on spooky season — I start counting down in July. I have two cats, Tank and Olive, who bring me joy and sneezes. I love taking small quests in the city, wandering into a museum or shop I've walked past a hundred times. I love stickers and journaling…the things 8-year-old Isabelle loved too!
I love reading about humans and their connections. And I've been through enough of my own big life shifts to know that growth is messy, uncomfortable, and often where the real shift happens.
I bring all of that into the room with you — helping you trust yourself enough to feel what you're actually feeling and get to the core of why.