Hello and welcome!
My name is Ruby (pronouns they/them). I am a licensed master social worker and therapist at Deep Eddy Psychotherapy.
There are many reasons you might be seeking therapy: from healing from past traumas to coping with current stressors, navigating mental health and relational challenges to reaching deeper levels of self-understanding and meaning. Regardless of your reason for seeking therapy, I believe the key to success is finding a therapist with whom you can build a supportive, trusting relationship in an environment of acceptance and honesty. Seeking therapy can be stressful, and it can be hard to know which therapist might be a good fit for you. I’m excited to provide some information about myself here that might help you decide if you’d like to take the next step in meeting with me.
Practice Philosophy
Struggle is a part of life, but our struggles can often make life feel overwhelming, stifling, or even meaningless. It’s easy to feel trapped in patterns of being and relating that don’t make sense, that feel like they’re “not the real me.” It can be hard to know what you really feel about your experiences, self, and relationships, and what you really want from life. Whether your goal is healing from traumas, improving your relationships, addressing mental health or relational struggles, or striving for a deeper and more meaningful understanding of life and yourself, I believe that therapy can be an invaluable tool for exploration, healing, and growth.
My practice philosophy centers on the power of relationships, the complexity and strength of each person, and the centrality of memory, emotion, and embodied experience in our lives. I strive to build healing therapeutic relationships that can assist those I work with in exploring themselves and their lives, integrating their complex parts and improving their relationships to themselves and others. The process and relationship of therapy can enable us to understand our pasts and presents in ways that empower us to heal, grow, and engage with our lives and relationships in new ways.
My practice philosophy is holistic, emphasizing the strengths inherent in all people and the complexity of the relationships of individuals to their environments. I believe strongly in practicing a liberatory approach to therapy which does not shy away from addressing the roles of social and institutional oppression in our lives, relationships, and mental health, and which embraces the healing potential of community and of struggles against oppression.
My Approach
My approach as a therapist is thoughtful, empathetic, non-directive, playful, and unconditionally accepting. Above all, my approach to therapy is collaborative and relational. I don’t propose to have all the answers for you, but I am excited for the opportunity to collaborate on addressing your needs. I approach therapy as a space and relationship in which you can explore, heal, grow, and experiment in ways that empower you towards discovering and living the kind of life you want to live. I practice with the belief that no matter what you’ve been through, each person has the capacity to live a unique and fulfilling life, and that building an intentional therapeutic relationship can help to realize this capacity.
I work to tailor each therapeutic relationship to the unique experiences and needs that you might bring to the space. I primarily utilize relational, psychodynamic, attachment-based, and existential approaches to therapy, but additionally bring in an eclectic variety of approaches including mindfulness, neuroscience, internal family systems, eco-therapy, play therapy, art therapy, and more, making each relationship as unique as the individuals co-creating it. I embrace the power of incorporating media, art, literature, philosophy, nature, food, and other interests and practices from our everyday lives into building a holistic therapeutic space for you as a whole person.
I recognize that experiences of pain and trauma can make us feel fragmented and disconnected from our bodies, selves, relationships, and worlds. I strive to create a space in which you can begin to reconnect the parts of yourself that may feel disconnected, building a new kind of internal and external dialogue of relating to yourself and others in new and powerful ways.
Areas of Practice
Regardless of your struggles or identities, if my descriptions of my practice philosophy and approach to therapy interest you, I warmly invite you to come see if we might be a good fit. I am committed to constant growth of my practice as an anti-racist, gender and sexuality affirming, feminist, class conscious, anti-ableist therapist, and welcome all individuals regardless of background or age.
I am a non-binary queer clinician, and my practice is affirming of individuals of all genders and sexual orientations- whether you are cis, straight, LGBT+, or figuring it out, I welcome you to come see me for therapy. I also embrace working with family and friends of LGBT+ individuals who may be navigating their own feelings and challenges surrounding their loved ones’ journeys. I am poly and kink affirming and welcome individuals in relationships of all types to come see if we may be a good fit for therapy.
Some other areas of experience, interest, and practice include but are not limited to:
Relational Struggles (social, professional, familial, romantic, etc.)
Anxiety
Trauma
Dissociation
Grief and Mourning
Attachment
Mood Dysregulation (anger, bipolar disorder, mood swings, etc.)
Parenting
Childhood and Adolescence
Transgender Youth and Guardians
Play Therapy
Gender Identity
Sexual Identity
Sexual Challenges
Substance Use
Personality Disorders
Spiritual and Existential Exploration
Nature therapy
About Me:
Originally from rural Eastern Kentucky, my family moved to Austin when I was 5 years old and I have lived here since. Though Austin is home, I still feel deep connections to my roots in the Appalachian Mountains, and love returning whenever I can.
I come from a working-class background and began working while still in high school. After several years working, I began college at UT Austin as a non-traditional student in my early 20s. During and after completion of my Master’s Degrees in Social Work I received mentorship in psychoanalytic psychotherapy via programs offered by Austin Psychoanalytic and APA Division 39. Since 2021 I have sat on the board of directors of APA Division 39: the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology.
When not working or studying, I love cooking, reading, watching movies, listening to music, and spending time with my family, friends, and dogs. I love hiking, biking, swimming, and exploring and communing with nature, as well as learning about native plants and cultivating the natural world around my home by tending my gardens, where I grow vegetables, herbs, succulents, and bonsai trees.