Specialty · high achievers
Therapy for high achievers
Many of the people I work with are highly successful and competent. They lead teams, build businesses, care for patients, argue cases, create art and hold families together. They are not fragile, and they are not looking to be treated as if they were. But capable people feel fear and despair too, as part of life, and often have nowhere to take it. This is a place for that.
Telehealth only, by secure video or audio, for people physically located in California. Laurie, LMFT.
What this work looks like with me
High achievers often arrive in therapy after years of solving everything themselves. Something has stopped working: sleep, a relationship, the satisfaction that used to come with a win, or the ability to switch off. Sometimes there is a specific event, such as a loss, a health scare or a setback at work. Sometimes there is simply a quiet sense that the life you built is not the life you want to be living.
I work with you as the capable adult you are. Sessions are direct, focused and collaborative. We look at what is actually happening, name the patterns that keep you stuck, and practice doing something different. I also bring warmth and humor to the room, because high performers often have very little space in their lives where they do not have to be impressive.
Often we find a hardworking inner driver at the center of things: a part of you that believes your worth depends on your output, that rest is dangerous, or that everything will fall apart if you let go. That part has usually served you well, and we do not try to get rid of it. We help it trust you enough to ease off, so that more of you can come forward, including the parts that want joy, play, connection and meaning.
The goal is not to make you less ambitious. It is to help you live and work from a place of peace, purpose and fulfillment rather than pressure, so that success feels like something you enjoy rather than something you endure.
Strength and struggle are not opposites.
Success is not the same as fulfillment. You are allowed to want both.
What high achievers often bring
Perfectionism
High standards helped you succeed, and now they may be costing more than they give. We work on keeping the excellence while loosening the fear underneath it.
Impostor feelings
Accomplished on paper, uncertain inside. Many successful people carry a private sense that they will be found out. It is common, and it can change.
Success without satisfaction
You reached the goal, and the feeling you expected did not arrive. This is often an invitation to reconnect with what actually matters to you.
Relationships that get the leftovers
Partners, children and friends often get whatever energy is left after work. We look at how to bring more of yourself to the people you love.
How we would work
We start with a free 20-minute consult by phone, text or video. You tell me what is going on and what you want to be different, and I tell you honestly whether I think I can help. There is no pressure in that call and no obligation afterward.
If we go ahead, sessions are weekly to begin with, by secure video or audio anywhere in California, with weekday times running into the evening and Saturday afternoon availability. Your privacy is protected by the same confidentiality that applies to all therapy, with the ordinary legal exceptions I explain at the start. I draw on Internal Family Systems, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, CBT, somatic and mindfulness work, hypnotherapy, and my own Positive Re-Narrative and Repatterning.
- Pressure, perfectionism and fear of failure
- Impostor feelings and self-doubt
- Burnout and difficulty switching off
- Anxiety and sleep that suffer under stress
- Grief or crisis in an otherwise successful life
- Relationships and family strained by work
- Finding meaning and purpose beyond achievement
Questions high achievers ask
- I am used to solving my own problems. Why would I need therapy?
- You may not need it in the sense of being unable to function. Many people come to therapy not because they are failing but because they want to live better, and because some things cannot be solved by effort alone. A skilled, confidential thinking partner who is focused entirely on you can be remarkably useful.
- How is this different from coaching?
- Coaching focuses on goals and forward movement. Therapy can go deeper, into the patterns, emotions and history that drive how you work and live, and it is licensed clinical care with legal confidentiality. I offer both, and I keep them separate. If you live outside California, or want a forward-looking focus without clinical care, Positive Life Coaching may suit you better.
- Will anyone know I am in therapy?
- Not from me. Therapy is confidential, with the ordinary legal exceptions I explain at the start. I am out of network, so nothing is billed to insurance unless you choose to submit a superbill yourself. Sessions take place by secure video or audio, from wherever you have privacy.
- What if my schedule is unpredictable?
- I understand that demanding jobs are unpredictable. The cancellation policy is 72 hours' notice to reschedule without paying in full. Setting a regular time and protecting it is often part of the work, because it is practice in treating your own wellbeing as something that matters.
Capable people deserve support too
You do not have to be falling apart to benefit from a confidential hour that is entirely yours. Text or email and we will find a time to talk. Telehealth only, by secure video or audio, for people physically located in California. Laurie, LMFT.