LPC, 25 years of experience
New to Grow
Greetings! I have enjoyed being a counselor for the last twenty-five years. Prior to that, I was in the art field, with a publishing business and a gallery in New York City's Soho district. I also teach at University of Phoenix and Rio Salado Community College. I firmly believe you have the power within you to make changes. My job is to teach you skills and point you in the right direction. I have a passion for what I do and really love helping people.
The first session is about getting to know one another. It's about information gathering so I can better help you and you get a feeling for working with me.
My favorite therapeutic approach is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. We believe what happens to us in life is neutral but what we think about it creates our feelings and our behaviors. If you want to change your feelings like anxiety and your behaviors (possibly overeating to cope with anxiety), you need to learn to challenge automatic negative thoughts or ANTS. Just because we think something, doesn't necessarily make it true. I also use Person Centered Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Mindfulness among many other approaches.
I have extensive experience working with addiction and co-occurring disorders. I also have done a lot with the LGBTQ+ population. Another population I enjoy working with is the elderly. Finally, my focus is on people struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions. I have always worked with adults eighteen and up.
I have twenty five years of experience with CBT, specifically Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, a form of CBT. I also use many other approaches depending on client needs including EMDR for trauma.