Desiree Harvey

In session, I am attentive, curious, warm, and playful. I come with an openness and respect for you and your willingness to start on this journey of self-understanding. It takes a lot of bravery to do that, and I commend you.

It is important to slow down in therapy in order to give ourselves the space to feel and reflect. This pacing allows us to take a deeper look at whatever you find yourself talking about. I will encourage you to tune into your body in therapy, reflecting on what it is feeling or doing, and we’ll work together to decipher what it might be saying. Your own questions and observations will guide our work, and I will encourage you to look at yourself with care and thoughtfulness rather than judgement or criticism. I will ask questions that draw you deeper into yourself and closer to understanding. Our relationship, that of patient and therapist, will also be open to conversation and questioning.

In time, we will come to see your unconscious at work, through your body sensations, dreams, relational patterns, and free associations. The unconscious is a wise and humorous teacher, and much can be gained by noticing and respecting it. You will begin to develop a working relationship with your own unconscious, which will allow more meaning, and multiple meanings, to be made of your life.

On the practical side of things, I offer 50-minute sessions once a week. My rate is $150 per therapy hour. Psychodynamic therapy is long-term therapy, which means I tend to work with people for a year or longer.  If that sounds useful or agreeable to you, I look forward to hearing from you!

I come from a family that struggles with mental illness, which, from birth, has shaped who I am. My experiences have made me curious and empathetic about the causes and consequences of mental health issues, not just for the suffering individual, but for each family member in a distinct way. We each respond uniquely to the challenges fate has set for us. I am interested in seeing how you have carried your personal fate with you.

As for my own journey, after almost a decade of intense solitary meditation practice, I entered psychodynamic psychotherapy. It helped me to see the importance of having another person there to hold, listen, reflect, and digest in a way I wasn’t able to do by myself, or within myself. The transformational experiences I’ve had in my own personal therapy make me excited to work with others in this capacity.

Professionally, I come from teaching high school English. I bring with me a love of words, metaphor, and symbolism. We all have a narrative, a story we tell ourselves, about our lives, and in therapy we can look to see what that is and what it might mean.  In this way, literature and therapy have a lot in common.

I also come to this work from an anti-racist, queer, and feminist perspective. My own experiences with privilege and oppression have shaped me and continue to do so. It is a personal passion of mine to continue to understand myself and others better through the lens of power in society. Experiences we have with societal forces like racism, sexism, or homophobia can have as strong an impact on us as more personal or familial traumas. For these reasons, talking about race, gender, and sexuality might be a part of your work with me.