I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in Florida (MH23088) and hold credentials as a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level 1 and 2 (CCTP I/II), a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional (CCATP), and an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Trained Professional. I have attended a variety of therapeutic and counseling trainings in treating post-traumatic stress disorders and complex traumas, anxiety and depression, attachment disorders, somatic work, inner child healing, shadow work, resiliency, teletherapy, and Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2016 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and in 2019 with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I have been practicing and seeing clients ever since. I have over ten years of experience working in the mental health field. While working on my education, I began gaining experience in the field in 2014, working with toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults in crisis units, youth shelters, abuse and trauma treatment centers, and the school system before beginning my private practice in 2021. I currently specialize in trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and grief with adolescents and adults.
In our first session together, we'll start with brief introductions, getting to know one another to create and establish a therapeutic alliance of comfort, safety, and calmness; then dive into the specific challenges you're facing. This will help me create a tailored plan for us to work through and establish goals within therapy to focus on during treatment and throughout future sessions.
I have worked in a variety of different settings to gain experience with the population of clients I work with. Over the past 10 years outside of practicing therapy, I've worked in crisis units, youth shelters, abuse and trauma treatment centers, and the school system. I have an inpatient and outpatient perspective on mental health treatment.
CBT allows clients to challenge their negative thought patterns and reframe these thoughts while managing their emotions and behaviors in a healthier way. I have been utilizing CBT my entire counseling career and implement it with a variety of symptoms and struggles including trauma, anxiety, grief and OCD.
EMDR is beneficial for clients who have experienced isolated or complex traumas as well as those struggling with anxiety, grief, OCD and PTSD. Trauma work in therapy can help take the edge off how your brain, heart, and body react to the memories of the experience.
The culture around grief prevents people from talking about it. People may judge you and say, “You’re not over it already,” or “You should just move on.” But every person grieves differently, and there is no set time for processing the grief felt from your loss. Grief becomes taboo to talk about because people try to force us to deal with it in a short time, which isn’t realistic. They offer unhelpful advice. “Time heals; you’ll be okay.” “They would want you to be happy.” “Be thankful you had them for as long as you did.” “It’s been two months, and you’re still not back to work?” “It’s been a few weeks, and you’re still crying?” These comments don’t help. They make us shut down and stop asking for support. But know, you’re not alone in this. We can resolve these mixed emotions and help you mend that broken heart. As we work together, you will learn to adapt, recover, and move forward with your life.
This approach utilizes CBT with a trauma focus lens. It is just as beneficial as CBT but targets specific areas related to trauma and adversity.