How It Works
Therapy with a real path forward
Not just a place to vent; a structured, experiential process that teaches you how to understand yourself from the inside out.
Why This Isn’t Traditional Therapy
Most therapy looks like this: you show up, you talk about your week, you leave feeling a little better, and you do it again next week. It's not bad, but for a lot of people, it's not enough. You end up knowing a lot about your patterns without actually changing them.
The Wanderwell Way is different in four specific ways:
Structured but not rigid. There's a clear arc to the work. You'll always know where you are and what we're building toward. But the path bends around you, not the other way around.
Experiential, not just intellectual. Knowing why you do something doesn't automatically change it. We work with what shows up in the room, in your body, your parts, the moment, not just what you can explain about yourself.
A guide, not a crutch. The goal is never dependency. It's building your capacity to understand and work with yourself so that eventually, you don't need me in the same way.
Teach a person to fish. You leave this work with skills, self-knowledge, and an internal system that actually works for you (not just a standing appointment).
The Wanderwell Way
The Wanderwell Way is a phased framework for healing. Each phase has a clear focus and builds on the one before it. Most clients move through all three, though the pace, order, and depth depend entirely on you.
Shelter
Building the foundation
Before we can do deep work, we need somewhere safe to do it from. Shelter is about building security: in our therapeutic relationship, in your daily life, and in your relationship with yourself.
This often includes family of origin work, increasing awareness of your patterns, emotion identification, and psychoeducation.
Trail
The deep work
This is where the real change happens. Using IFS, we identify the parts of you that are carrying old pain: the protectors who've been working overtime, the exiles who've never been heard. We work carefully and collaboratively with your internal system to help those parts unburden.
This phase isn't linear. Most people have multiple exiles, and we move through this stage more than once as your system reveals what it's ready to work with.
Vista
Integration and new ground
After an unburdening, life starts to look different. Vista is where we begin to see how your internal changes ripple outward into your relationships, your choices, your sense of self.
We help your protectors find new roles now that they don't have to work so hard.
Sometimes Vista leads to termination. Sometimes it leads back to Trail when your system is ready to go deeper. Either way, you'll know where you are.
The Wanderwell Way draws from several established frameworks, including the three-phase trauma model, Internal Family Systems, and post-traumatic growth theory.
It's not a new invention; it's a thoughtful synthesis of approaches that have strong evidence behind them, applied in a way that's specific to you.
Internal Family Systems is a therapy model built on one core idea: your mind is made up of multiple parts, and those parts are all trying to help you — even the ones that seem destructive or out of control. The anxious part, the shutdown part, the overachiever, the people-pleaser — none of them are problems to eliminate. They're parts of you with histories, roles, and needs.
IFS gives us a way to get curious about those parts instead of fighting them. When a part feels truly understood — and when the pain it's been carrying gets addressed at the source — things shift in a way that knowing about your patterns never quite achieves.
You don't need to understand IFS before we start. You just need to be willing to get a little curious.
What is IFS Therapy?
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and reach out.
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Consistency is what makes this kind of work possible. The Wanderwell Way isn't designed for drop-in therapy. It's a process, and that process needs continuity to work.
I currently accept United/Optum/Surest, BlueCross BlueShield, and Aetna. Clients using these plans are billed through insurance at standard session rates. Membership plans are available for private-pay clients and offer a higher level of structured support: regular sessions, between-session touchpoints, async check-ins, and a therapeutic relationship that builds momentum over time.
Private-pay clients on a membership plan may also be eligible to submit superbills to their insurance company for potential out-of-network reimbursement for the session portion of their membership. Reimbursement varies by plan and is not guaranteed.
Not sure which structure is right for you? We can talk through it on the free consult.
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The free 20-minute consult isn't a sales call and it isn't an intake. It's a chance for both of us to figure out if this is the right fit.
We'll talk about what's bringing you here, what you've tried before, and what you're hoping for. I'll tell you honestly whether I think my approach matches what you need. If it does, we'll talk about next steps. If it doesn't, I'll do my best to point you somewhere that does.
No pressure. No commitment. Just 20 minutes to find out.
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TLDR: Yes.
As a licensed therapist, my services typically qualify for HSA and FSA reimbursement. I can also provide a superbill upon request for services rendered. You would only be reimbursed for the services you received, not the full membership fee. I'd recommend checking with your plan administrator about how they handle membership-based billing, as policies vary.
