ABOUT LIZ

ABOUT LIZ

Hello! I'm Liz. I'm a licensed associate therapist (LAPC), NARM® Master Therapist, breathwork facilitator, MBEC, and certified trauma professional. I am passionate about destigmatizing mental health and helping others better understand themself, their body, their brain, and their habits to cope with difficulties in life, reach their goals, and live in a state of acceptance and compassion rather than overwhelm, frustration, and shame.

While I focus on all aspects of mental wellness, my specialties are in nutritional psychology (understanding how our brain and mindsets influence our habits, actions, and choices regarding health and wellness), relational trauma, complex trauma, chronic illness support, and nervous system regulation.

From a very young age, I struggled with crippling anxiety and panic attacks. My inability to cope with my anxiety was a contributing factor in developing an eating disorder later on in life, which ultimately led to the onset of multiple chronic illnesses (POTS, OH, Fibromyalgia, CFS) and symptoms that impacted my life in difficult ways for years in my early twenties. While difficult to endure, these experiences are what brought me to this field and led me to become so passionate about psychology, mental health, and the relationship we have with ourselves. 

My undergraduate degree is in early childhood education and special education and while I did not stick on this career path, my degree played a large role in my passion for understanding human development, as the majority of our belief systems, habits, and identities stem from childhood and early life experiences. After college, I decided to pivot and joined a mental health counseling graduate program to become a licensed therapist. I have also completed several trainings and certifications in trauma, nutritional psychology, eating disorder support, and nervous system regulation.

Through my work as a therapist, social media platforms, and blog, I aim to shift the way we view health and wellness, destigmatize mental health and make resources more accessible, spread awareness and acceptance for those affected by psychological disorders, and advocate for those with chronic illnesses.

Facing the parts of ourselves we are disconnected from, fearful of, feel shame towards, etc. is not easy, but the connection to ourselves and others that we gain is worth it. I take a non-pathologizing approach to mental health and personal growth, meaning, viewing people through the lens of compassion and acceptance instead of judgment. I understand the impact that our environment has on our development and the way we function throughout life. I operate from the belief that all people have inherent worth and dignity, and everyone is capable of building resilience and making positive changes in their lives.

I am grateful that my healing journey connected me to my passion for helping others and am honored to be a part of your healing process, whether it is through working together, one of my programs or offers, or my free content ♥︎

Pillars of My Therapeutic Approach:

1. Psychoeducation: In each program within the Unbounded Brand, you will learn about any psychology, neuroscience, nervous system regulation, and nutrition information that is relevant to that course. This information is broken down into easy-to-understand and apply concepts, and will help you to better understand yourself, your brain, and your body.

2. Agency: Nobody understands your body, experiences, or mental state better than yourself. While stepping slightly beyond your comfort zone is sometimes necessary for personal growth and self-discovery, there's no obligation to force yourself into anything before you're ready. You have the authority to decide the pace and extent of your challenges. The objective of any Unbounded program isn't to hold you to a strict plan, but to empower you to listen to yourself and your body, making choices that genuinely nurture and benefit you.

3. Acceptance: Growth is like peeling an onion, there is always another layer. Life is a never-ending journey of healing and growth therefore, "perfection" and "total healing" are not the goal. Approaching transformation from a place of acceptance allows us to stop waiting until we reach our goals to respect our bodies, feel confident, nourish ourselves, and enjoy life. Our bodies and lives fluctuate daily and practicing acceptance helps us to ride the ebbs and flows of life rather than resist them.

4. Curiosity: Even our most frustrating and destructive self-sabotaging habits and actions formed for a reason and at one point in our lives they served a very important purpose. Rather than approaching ourselves with guilt, shame, and judgment, we approach these "survival strategies" with curiosity and openness. This allows us to better understand our inner world (states of being, relationship to ourselves, how we relate to others and the world around us, what motivates our behavior, what drives us, why we do what we do or don't do what wish we would, etc.).

5. Embodiment: We utilize an embodied approach to transformation as opposed to solely mindset work which often leads to resistance, tension, frustration, and mental overwhelm. Since the majority of our fear, resistance, discomfort, trauma, past experiences, etc. live in the body, we use embodiment practices to help regulate the nervous system and increase the capacity for self-regulation. 

 

Blog Posts

Check out my most recent blog posts here: