Find your way forward.
Most people who find their way here have spent years being who they needed to be, for their family, their job, everyone around them. It worked. But somewhere along the way it became exhausting and stopped feeling true. You don't have to stay stuck there any longer. We can help you find your way forward.
About Polaris
Polaris is a small, private-pay telehealth practice serving Maryland couples and individuals. The caseload stays intentionally limited because every client deserves a therapist who knows their case, thinks about it between sessions, and shows up prepared.
The therapeutic stance here is experiential, directive, and relational. Challenging, but warm. Clients are supported and encouraged as they take steps toward growth. We acknowledge that change can be messy and nonlinear. There is no failure here.
This is not a practice that runs you through a protocol. Everything is tailored to the client's needs, interests, and readiness. The goal is real-world change, built around your actual life, and ultimately, creating a life that doesn't require weekly check-ins to hold together.
"I am genuinely inspired watching clients feel empowered to make authentic, aligned choices in their lives. That is what draws me to this work."
Meet Amy
I became a therapist because I was already doing the work. I just didn't have the credentials yet. I grew up in a household shaped by medicine. My mother was a physician and my father a nurse. My first job was in an academic setting as a research assistant studying suicide and helping with clinical trials for depression medication. By night I volunteered in a Level 1 trauma ER, where I learned to walk through a curtain, meet a complete stranger at one of their worst moments, and make them feel comfortable. That's where something clicked.
I debated nursing school and PA training. But I kept noticing that what I actually wanted to do with patients was talk to them. Think with them. Understand the person underneath the diagnosis. Eventually, I found my way to marriage and family therapy, or maybe it found me.
I believe healing must occur within the whole context of a person's life. What we work through in sessions can be as diverse as your sleep environment, your nervous system, your relationship patterns, your sense of meaning and purpose, your spiritual life, or the political and cultural context you move through every day. In my mind, these things are not separate. And when given the chance, we work beyond merely reducing symptoms. The deeper work, the kind that gets skipped in settings bound by the medical model, is where lasting change actually lives.
My background in theater helped shape some of my clinical presence, long before I made it to graduate school. I understand the importance of presence, timing, and the ability to attune to a room. I work with a clear integrated theoretical framework. I am deeply inspired watching clients feel empowered to make authentic, aligned choices in their lives. That is what draws me to this work.
I'm originally from the greater Philadelphia area, which probably explains a few things about my communication style. I've moved eighteen times, lived on both coasts, and even spent three years in Japan. I have a deep appreciation and genuine curiosity for how people move through the world. I am a military spouse, a mom to an energetic preschooler, and custodian to a black cat called Binx. When not in session, I'm always rethinking my interior design choices, tending to my garden, singing (it's regulating, I stand by it), diving deep into my nonfiction reading list, or exploring new restaurants, museums, and architecture wherever I happen to land.
How It Works
Before going deep, build the floor. Sleep, environment, nervous system basics. This isn't a warm-up, it's foundational. Sustainable change requires a system that can metabolize it. We start there.
Pattern identification. The cycle, the trigger, the loop. Named without shame, understood with precision, and reorganized into something that actually serves you. You leave sessions knowing not just what happened, but why, and what's available instead.
In session and in real life. Actively reworking dynamics, practicing new patterns, and bringing back data from the world outside. The kind of change that becomes muscle memory, then just becomes who you are.
The goal from day one. You leave with a clear picture of what worked, a prevention plan in your own language, and the confidence to move forward without needing weekly check-ins to hold your life together.
Services
Intake sessions are 90 minutes. Ongoing sessions are 55 minutes. The intake isn't just paperwork; you'll leave with a preliminary picture of what we're working on and what the path forward looks like. No mystery, no vague unfolding process.
Individual Therapy
For people who are self-aware, capable, yet still stuck in survival mode. Maybe you know your patterns, but things aren't changing. This work is directive and relational. You'll be challenged and held, and you'll leave sessions with something concrete to focus on.
Well suited for people who hold everything together for everyone else.
Couples Therapy
Gottman Level 3 structure meets EFT depth. Sessions are actively managed, not passive facilitation. For couples who are stuck in the same argument, growing apart, or smart enough to want to build something solid before the cracks turn into crises. All couples welcome.
For couples with children: the patterns showing up in your relationship are often the same ones showing up in your parenting. This work explores what may be getting in the way and provides a path for showing up the way you want to for your children.
For couples preparing for marriage or a first child: babies have a knack for finding and magnifying every weakness in a relationship. We can find them first, when the stakes are lower.
Additional Services
You generally make it through life just fine. But right now, you have too many options, not enough clarity, or a brain that won't quiet down long enough to find lasting solutions. One focused 90-minute session with a solution-focused framework and relevant clinical depth. You'll leave with a plan and the tools to execute it. This session is not for people in crisis, but if ongoing work feels right, we can talk about that too.
Inquire for details and availabilityAdditional Services
Available for both individuals and couples. Concentrated work over a shorter period. For couples, this is the kind of intervention that typically takes months, compressed into days. Structured, sequenced, using a Gottman framework combined with experiential depth. Format and duration are determined collaboratively following an initial assessment.
Inquire for details and availabilityWho This Is For
The consultation exists to figure out whether Polaris is the right match for you and for the work. If it isn't a good fit, we will point you toward a service, practice, or provider that may be a better one, either during the call or shortly after.
Questions and feedback always welcome. Polaris values collaboration and transparency.
Who This Is For, Continued
Not every person or couple is the right match for Polaris, and that is okay. Some situations call for a specialist with specific training. It matters that you or your relationship get the support you actually need.
Situations that may be better served by a different specialist:
These directories can help you find the right therapist:
Clinical Background
"The goal from session one is to make myself unnecessary as quickly as the work allows. Therapy is ethically anti-dependence."
"You cannot fail here. If something doesn't work, we view it as data. All that happened is we discovered one more way that things won't work, and that is still very useful."
"I'll offer a lot of options and suggestions. Please don't do anything that doesn't resonate. You are the expert on your own life, and you get to choose how to make this work."
Get Started
The consultation is a 15-minute phone or video call, your choice. This is your chance to ask questions, describe what you're carrying, and figure out together whether this is a good fit. No pressure. No commitment. Just clarity on whether to take the next step. If Polaris isn't right for you, you won't leave without a direction.
Use the button below to access scheduling. You'll be asked a few brief questions beforehand. This helps ensure we're starting the conversation in the right place. All inquiries are responded to within one business day.
Request a Consultation