Individual Therapy in Scottsdale, AZ
Attachment-focused therapy for adults navigating relationships, identity, and the ways past experiences continue to shape the present.
Making sense of experience.
Relationships can bring some of our deepest longings and our most difficult feelings to the surface. You may find yourself deeply affected by changes in closeness, uncertain of where you stand with someone, or overwhelmed by what happens inside you when a relationship feels threatened. You may want connection intensely and still find it difficult to trust, receive, or hold onto.
For others, the struggle is harder to name. You may feel disconnected from yourself, unsure of what you need, or caught between wanting to be known and wanting to protect the parts of yourself that feel harder to show.
Therapy gives us a place to understand what happens in these moments, what they come to mean about ourselves and others, and how those meanings shape what we come to expect.
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We learn how close to let others come. What to expect from relationships. What happens when we need someone, and what we do when connection feels uncertain. We learn what parts of ourselves feel welcome and what parts seem safer to hide.
Over time these ways of being can become so familiar they begin to feel like who we are. Yet they are not the whole of us. Many of the ways we protect ourselves once made sense. They helped us adapt, belong, or preserve important relationships.
Understanding how these ways of relating developed can help us recognize what they are protecting now. What feels at risk when someone pulls away. Why reassurance can sometimes be difficult to believe or hold onto. Why conflict can make it harder to remember what we know about a relationship. Why we might reach harder for connection in one moment and want distance in the next.
When we can become curious about these responses rather than simply judging them, we have more room to understand ourselves and discover whether what we have come to expect is the only possibility.
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This work begins by slowing down.
Together we pay attention to your experience as it unfolds. What happens inside you when someone disappoints you, becomes less available, or doesn't respond in the way you hoped. What happens when you want something from another person but aren't sure how to ask for it. What you do when being known begins to feel vulnerable.
We become curious about the feelings underneath your responses and the meanings these moments take on. We make room for what may be harder to reach or put into words. Understanding how you came to respond this way matters. So does discovering what becomes possible through a different experience.
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Over time, there can be more room between what happens and what it comes to mean. A moment of distance does not have to mean someone is leaving. Conflict does not have to erase what you know about the relationship. You can become more curious about what may be happening in another person without losing sight of your own experience.
You may become better able to recognize what you feel and need, and to bring more of that into relationship. To reach for someone when you need them, receive care when it is offered, and trust that connection can withstand moments of difference, disappointment, or uncertainty.
There can also be more freedom in how you relate. Less certainty that the past will repeat itself. More capacity to hold yourself and another person in mind at the same time, even when emotions run high. Relationships can become places where you can depend on someone without losing yourself, tolerate separateness without experiencing it as abandonment, and remain connected without having to protect yourself in the same ways you once did.
This work might be a good fit if you
Want closeness but find it difficult to let others know what you feel or need
Find yourself relating in ways that leave you feeling disconnected or stuck
Feel deeply affected by distance, uncertainty, or changes in connection
Lose sight of yourself or what you need in important relationships
Find yourself questioning who you are after a significant change or loss
Struggle with self-criticism, shame, or feeling like you are too much
EXPLORE COMMON CONCERNS
Learn more about some of the patterns and concerns that often bring people to therapy.
Working with me.
I am an active, thoughtful presence in the room. I ask questions. I notice patterns that emerge between past and present, thoughts and emotions, or between what is said and what seems more difficult to put into words. When something feels meaningful, we stay with it rather than rushing past it.
My work is attachment-based, experiential, and depth-oriented. We may explore how earlier relationships shaped what you came to expect from yourself and other people while also paying close attention to how those expectations show up in your life now.
Some sessions are quiet and reflective. Others are deeply emotional. Sometimes we make sense of longstanding patterns. Other times we simply remain present with an experience that has never before had room to exist.
I don’t believe therapy is about fixing people. I believe it can give us a different way of encountering what has been difficult to understand, feel, or bring into relationship. I think one of our deepest human longings is to be known. Not simply understood intellectually, but encountered in a way that allows us to recognize ourselves more clearly. My hope is that therapy becomes a place where those parts of yourself can emerge without needing to be defended against or hidden away.
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Figure & Ground Therapy is a self-pay private practice.
Individual / Teen Therapy
$175 per 60-minute sessionCouples Therapy
$175 per 60-minute session
$225 per 90-minute session
First Couples Session is 90 minutes.
Ongoing sessions are typically 60 minutes,
90-minute ongoing sessions are available upon request. -
Figure & Ground Therapy is a self-pay private practice and does not bill insurance directly.
If you have out-of-network benefits, I can provide a monthly superbill you can submit for possible reimbursement.
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You can begin in the way that feels most useful to you. If you have questions or want to get a sense of whether we might be a good fit, you can request a free 15-minute consultation. If you feel ready to begin, you can request your first therapy session directly.
Use the scheduling button below to view current availability and request a time.
GET STARTED
View my current availability and request a time below.
Have a question before scheduling?
Email me at rachel@figureandgroundtherapy.com