Hi, I’m Connor Mack.
I’m an LCSW-A, somatic-based practitioner, communal and individual grief tender, sex-positive therapist, aiming to be a shimmering light, a torch, as you traverse whatever is currently alive in your life.
I take a person-centered, strengths-based approach, drawing on Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Nonviolent Communication, and intentional grief work, informed by the teachings of Joanna Macy, Sobonfu Somé, and Malidoma Somé.
I work with adults of all genders, specializing in men’s issues, people experiencing grief, depression, anxiety, burnout, fear, and trauma. As an autistic & queer person, I work well with people exploring their neurodivergence and sexuality.
Modalities I Work With
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ACT is a mindfulness-based approach that helps you stop fighting your difficult thoughts and feelings and instead accept them. Instead of trying to "fix" or eliminate uncomfortable emotions, you will learn to accept them as part of the human experience while committing to actions that align with your deepest values. This shift allows you to build psychological flexibility and live a rich, meaningful life, even in the face of challenges.
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SE is a body-centered approach that helps address the physical and emotional effects of stress and trauma. Rather than focusing only on talking or understanding, somatic work invites us to listen to the body and its signals, tension, numbness, activation, and ease.
By gently bringing awareness back into the body, we begin to reconnect with its inherent wisdom and allow stored patterns of stress to soften. This supports a felt sense of safety, grounding, and rest.
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IFS is a gentle and respectful way of understanding ourselves as made up of many different parts, each of which developed to help us survive and stay safe.
Growing up in a disconnected and often dysregulated culture, many of us learned to protect ourselves by staying guarded, staying strong, staying quiet, masking with humor, or disconnecting altogether. These parts are not problems to fix; they are intelligent responses to our environments.
In IFS, we don’t try to push these parts away or override them. We slow down and meet them with curiosity, compassion, and respect. When parts feel seen and understood, they naturally soften, allowing more presence, ease, and connection to emerge.
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Grief work provides a compassionate, non-judgmental space to navigate complex emotions. This process isn't about "getting over" something, but rather learning how to carry the loss while eventually finding a way to integrate it into your continuing life story. It honors your unique timeline and helps you find meaning and healing amidst the pain of transition.
Grief does not just show up in the ways of physical death. It is the grief that follows a divorce, a dream that is no longer, a shame that is hidden so deep you don't even fully know the words to describe it, a deep pain in feeling the ways that our planet and it's inhabitants are suffering, a memory, or bodily remembrance, from childhood of how your parents did not show up for you in the ways you deserved. To me, to grieve, is to be alive. And for many of us, we have become disconnected from our grief which has led us to a state of constant freeze.
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NVC is a compassionate framework for relational healing that aims to transform conflict into connection. By moving away from judgment and blame, NVC helps clients break old patterns of defensiveness in their relationships and build collaboration. This approach focuses on four practical pillars: making clear observations, identifying and expressing feelings, connecting with core needs, and making actionable requests of ourselves and others.
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Intuitive listening is a deeply empathetic form of therapeutic presence that goes beyond just hearing words to understanding the underlying emotions and unspoken truths. By tuning into subtle shifts in energy and tone, this approach helps reflect insights back to unearth what may currently be hidden. It fosters a profound sense of being truly seen and heard, creating a safe foundation for deeper self-discovery.
How These Modalities Fit Together?
I see all of these modalities as deeply intertwined. For example, say you’re taking a risk that aligns with what feels true, but an inner protective part steps in to slam the pause button to keep you safe.
Parts-Work (IFS) helps us understand the inner protector trying to stop you.
Grief Work unpacks and honors the old pain that made that protector necessary in the first place.
Somatic Experiencing gives your body physical tools to feel secure when that old fear gets triggered.
ACT anchors you in your core values so you can move forward.
Through this work, we begin to commune with our essence, inner resource, and spirit. Learning how we truly want to be in and interact with this world, moving from reactions that keep us numb, to being fully alive.