Therapy for Physicians, Nurses, & Allied Healthcare Workers
Get back in touch with what brought you to this field
Why did you originally get into healthcare? Maybe it was because it was an opportunity to pair your intellect with a job that society highly values. Perhaps it was because you or a family member had to navigate the healthcare system when you were younger, and entering the field gave you an opportunity to give back. Perhaps it made logical sense for your strengths and life goals, or you come from a family of healthcare workers. Maybe it was your dream job. Whatever your reasons, working in healthcare provides a lot of opportunity: all of these jobs are important in our society, and the industry as a whole provides an opportunity for individuals to pair their drive to support and heal others with lucrative careers.
In healthcare, it’s sink or swim. If you want to get up to speed in these professions, you have learn quickly and toughen yourself up for the job if you want to find any level of success. Having gone through the experience of getting up to speed in the ER and OR, I know what its like; and it’s truly remarkable to see how quickly and nimbly people adapt to healthcare work environments. However, navigating these waters doesn’t come without a cost. Often, we adapt through any means we know how, which can eventually evolve into dysfunction, burnout, relational and mental health issues, and chronic illness.
Before I became a therapist, I spent over a decade in healthcare. I know what a code blue does to your nervous system for the rest of your shift. I know what it's like to smile at a patient in one room while you're falling apart in the supply closet. I know the guilt of clocking out and still thinking about the outcomes you couldn't control. You won't spend our sessions translating hospital culture for me — we can get straight to what's actually going on with you.
You won’t have to explain your job to me.
Who this is for
This work is for people across every corner of the healthcare system, including:
Physicians — attendings, residents, and medical students navigating the pressure of training or practice
Nurses — RNs, NPs, nurse managers, and nursing students
Other healthcare professionals — PAs, therapists, first responders, and hospital or clinic staff facing the same demands from different angles
Wherever you land in the system, if the work is taking more than it's giving back right now, this space is built for you.
Get back in touch with what brought you to this field
Do you feel stagnant in your current role? Do you begrudgingly bring yourself into work only to be met with frustrations? Do you find yourself having an increasingly low tolerance for workplace antics and patient difficulties? Do you see life through a lens of sarcasm, dark humor, and callousness, because if you don’t, the everyday experiences of your job might penetrate that barrier and get to you?
What brings healthcare workers into my office?
Some of the most common conditions I work through with physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals include:
Burnout and compassion fatigue. The slow erosion of caring beyond where our boundaries need to be, resulting in feeling numb, cynical, or like you're just going through the motions.
Anxiety and depression shaped by high-stakes work. The lived experiences of these conditions don’t necessarily reflect how they’re discussed in textbooks. It looks like irritability, insomnia, intolerance for minor disruptions, looking down on others who are worried about experiences that we in the field would deem minor, or dread toward any aspect of your work.
Relationship strain. Feeling disconnected from your partner, family, and friends, especially if they don’t also work in the field.
Grief and moral injury. The patient outcomes that stay with you. The times the system asked you to do something that didn't sit right, and you did it anyway because you had no other choice.
Questioning whether you want to stay in the field. Sometimes healthcare workers come to me not sure if they're burned out or just done.
Why work with me
I'm a Marriand and Family Therapist in Austin with a background in nursing and over a decade of experience in healthcare. I see clients as whole people, not a collection of symptoms. That's especially true in this work — healthcare culture asks you to hold everything together for everyone else. This is a space where you don't have to.
Frequently Asked Questions
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There’s no hard and fast rule about what a first session needs to look like. Typically, we will have a conversation about what your life looks like right now, what you’re hoping might change, and major influences on your life to this point. You can be as vague or as specific as you want about what’s bringing you in.
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I have a career background spanning multiple industries. I spent much of my career as a an ER and Peri-op nurse, as well as teaching nursing students. This gives me the unique perspective as a therapist to intimately understand what working within the healthcare system is like.
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Absolutely! I work with healthcare professionals of varying capacity. What sets my practice apart is that I understand the unique demands and cultures of those working within the medical system.
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Not from me. I don't communicate with employers, hospital administration, or credentialing bodies about your care unless you specifically direct me to (for example, if you ever wanted documentation for an accommodation).
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Not much from a legal standpoint — the same confidentiality laws apply to everyone. What's different is the weight you're carrying into the room: you know how licensing boards, credentialing committees, and malpractice questions work in a way most clients don't, so the fear feels more concrete and specific. Part of my job with physician clients is being fluent enough in the medical world that you're not spending your session educating me — and clear enough about what confidentiality actually covers that the fear itself doesn't keep you from getting support.