Well hello there! I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Florida and licensed in both Florida and Massachusetts. I received my Masters from the University of Kansas and have been practicing for 9 years. I run a successful life coaching business where I meet people on the beach and we walk and talk. I am living the dream, who says you can't make a living helping people and going to the beach?
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
Down to earth. Introductions and finding out what's happening currently with a client, subtle backstory if applicable, identifying support systems, experiences/expectations of therapy. Wish list from the client with priorities and a vague road map by me of how I think we should get there. Feedback and ideas if I am on point or if they want to travel quicker/slower/off the beaten track with many pitstops etc. Very light and fact finding on my end. Super sneaky probing by me...it looks more off the cuff than it actually is but clients leave incredibly encouraged and excited to get to work and I have the information I need to plan. They always say "you so get me" and I, oddly enough, even though their backstories may differ, do. Super relaxing and fun...
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I cannot sing. No skills in sports to speak of, draw like a right handed person drawing left handed. I have wicked ADHD so I can listen to rapid fire speech in forty directions with segmented backstories and make sense of it all, when I recap you will feel like you have known me for years and possibly witnessed the events you spoke of first hand, medication has been a mixed bag in helping me be sequential in other areas of my life but my disability is an advantage as a therapist. Everyone has a gift to share with the world. My greatest strength as a provider is my ability to connect and not only meet you where you are but make you see the endless possibilities for your life. I help you see it for yourself drawing from the things you talk about in session. I want to help people. That's why I became a therapist. It's the top quick round the room answer for why most people become cops, nurses, ministers, teachers, social workers, etc. It certainly isn't the monetary pay. The the joy I get, all helpers who are engaged in their professions get, is lightening another persons load through listening as a sounding board and providing different possibilities/possible obstacles. Crossing someone's path and making a difference. Connection is the sweetest feeling. Heart felt thank you notes and gratitude filled voicemails that I get from clients get my spirits so high I think my heart will leave the ground and float off into space. I'm the therapist I would want. I cheer my people on in their successes and my sessions are a safe place to admit setbacks or defeat. There is no greater gift than knowing you helped someone see things in a way that serves their higher purpose.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I want you to fire me. Seriously. My goal is earn your trust and to ultimately be viewed as a trusted confidante, the loyalty and acceptance of a best friend blended with another friend who went to school for therapy and graduated with honors. I am honored to hear your story and help you get to where to want to go. A safe place in the storm to share who you are. I am probably a life coach cleverly disguised as a very educated and talented therapist. I always tell you when I am switching perspectives by putting on my imaginary life coach hat in session and saying "Susie Life Coach feels..." then I get back to applying therapy and concepts that will allow you to understand your behavior better. Lets get you where you want to go and you pop in anytime you want or need to talk. I know the back story and we pick up where you left off. I love when my clients tell me the truth, I feel so honored that they know I don't judge. If they have not followed their charted course and feel they have made a mess they know I will be there broom in hand to help pick up the pieces and talk about what went wrong and its never ever as bad as they imagine. Give your clients a safe place to crash land and never a reason to need it. This philosophy has served me well and I have seen clients for years that will pop up on my voicemail or inbox with a summation or highlight reel of some changes and a request to meet. We talk, set some goals, clients hit the ball out of the park with their goals and like that they fly away to new successes. That's it.
About Susie Kat
Serves ages
Licensed in
Accepts
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
In my practice this therapy works on the premise of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I love this modality and base much of my approach on building on a clients current strengths and helping clients work to tweak the parts of their life where they are facing challenges. I tell my clients SFBT requires them to be open to adjusting areas they want to work on with a socket wrench, not dynamite. If a person, place, emotion, or behavior is no longer serving you SFBT helps you to identify what you really want and the confidence to name it and claim it.
Strength-Based
Strength-based therapy is talk therapy that guides you toward a retelling of your personal history of traumas, stressors, and pain with more emphasis on yourself as a survivor than as a victim, and more emphasis on resilience as opposed to helplessness. I work with my clients and make them see the bravery that exists in the stories they share. I point out who they are, reframed in a light that is more gentle than our culture can be at times.
Compassion Focused
I always say if you are going to bring your measuring stick to session you are not allowed to beat yourself with it as well. We are all works in progress! I encourage all my clients to see the uniqueness of themselves and to not accept being defined by anyone else for any reason. I mostly utilize CBT and Compassion Focused therapy together for my clients who are presenting with eating disorders. Reframing and self-talk that is nurturing is a huge part of this modality for me.
Person-centered (Rogerian)
I am highly person centered in my approach and have always build rapport with clients quickly because I feel judgement is the end of any relationship that is successful. I always tell people that they can take a high dive into the truth or dip their toe with the right to step back, but if we can't speak with open and honest hearts they are wasting their time. My goal is to help them get where they want to go. We can go anywhere but we need to get real, at their pace and comfort level of course. I am self deprecating and truly cheering on all my clients.
Narrative
Much of my experience in Narrative therapy was born and honed working with pedophiles and traumatized refugees (separate practicums). So many of my frequently applied modalities crossover into one another and narrative therapy is no exception. Narrative therapy is done in almost all of my sessions through assisting clients in reframing narratives that are often false or assigned by others for a multitude of reasons. Journaling and feedback is HUGE for how I apply this modality. I reenforce therapy goals they have set and the mantra of thoughts becoming things, so if they change/replace that thought they will change their life. If a story is ours we need to own it, owning is about getting the lesson of our role and releasing the experience to the universe. Lessons are just that, lessons. They are not life sentences.