Elyse manzello

People whose brain won't turn the volume down. You replay the conversation from three hours ago wondering if you said the wrong thing, and right about the time you decide you probably didn't, something new shows up to worry about. Being that hard on yourself takes a lot out of you, and it usually doesn't even work. Together we'll get curious about where that critical voice came from and what it thinks it's protecting, and we'll practice a way of talking to yourself that you'd actually offer someone you love.

People who often feel like the world is too much. You notice things other people walk right past, you pick up on the mood in a room before anyone opens their mouth, and after a long day you need real time alone before you can be a person again. Bright lights and crowded places cost you more than you let on. Your attunement is a gift, not something to hide or apologize for. Together we'll figure out how to care for it, how to set it down when you need to, and how to use the strengths that have been there all along.

LGBTQIA+ folks who are tired of explaining themselves. You've spent enough energy translating yourself for people who could have just listened, and having to do that in a therapy office too is a lot to ask. You won't be starting from scratch here. Every part of you is welcome in the room, which means we get to spend the hour on what you actually came in for.

People who want closer relationships and aren't sure how to get there. You want deeper connection, and somewhere along the line people stopped feeling safe to let in. Maybe you can point to exactly when that shifted, or maybe it just crept up on you. Together we'll look at the experiences that shaped how you connect, get clear on what you actually need from people, and rewrite some of those old stories with a lot of compassion for the version of you who learned them.

People trying to figure out who they are. "Tell me about yourself" has never been an easy question for you. Maybe the things that used to light you up don't anymore, or maybe you lost track of yourself somewhere in the middle of surviving something hard. You deserve to be accepted and celebrated exactly as you are, not as some finished version of yourself you haven't met yet. We'll start right where you are and find your way back to you.

Teens who didn't exactly sign up for this. Somebody else scheduled the appointment, you've got a lot going on already, and sitting across from an adult who wants to talk about your feelings is not how you'd pick to spend an hour. We can start anywhere you want, including nowhere near the hard stuff. There's sand and art supplies in the room if talking isn't your thing, and you get real say in what we do with the time.