While in the corporate sector for 16 years I started my own therapy and recovery. With the support of people I met along the way, I returned to graduate school and started this chapter of my life. For the past 21 years, I have worked in a community based mental health and substance abuse treatment setting, I have been a contractor for the Department of Defense providing the same services as previously mentioned, I have worked in a private group practice providing mental health and outpatient substance use assessment and treatment services, and most recently I have returned home after being in Canada for over 6 years providing clinical services for an intensive outpatient treatment program. In November of 2021, I entered into private practice providing behavioral health and addiction treatment services for adult individuals and couples.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
I would rather my clients not expect anything but rather be open and welcoming to what we both bring to each session. In doing so, we allow for both the known and unknown elements of our hearts and minds to present themselves. What a great place to problem solve together. Related to that I think it would be important for clients to know that while greater awareness is good, it does not always lead to action; but action will always lead to greater awareness. And so, while the search for the answer to why is important, doing something different often times, not only helps us find the answer to why, but it puts in motion the practices to help sustain change/growth.
What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy are all used interchangeably in my work with clients. From each modality there are specific skills and exercises that we can talk about and practice to facilitate change and/or greater awareness.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
What most people will tell you about working with me is that I listen, and that I am interested in helping you learn to become the primary caretaker and nurturer of yourself in such a manner as to not exclude others from joining and assisting you in that process, as they choose.