New to Grow
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 10 years of experience providing compassionate and evidence-based mental health care. With a compassionate and client-centered approach, I help individuals navigate life’s challenges and discover paths toward healing, growth, and self-understanding. My practice focuses on creating a safe, nonjudgmental space where clients can explore emotions, build resilience, and develop meaningful coping strategies. Drawing from evidence-based methods, I support people struggling with anxiety, stress, trauma, relationship concerns, and personal transitions. My goal is to empower clients to foster deeper self-awareness and create sustainable, positive change in their lives.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
Clients can expect the first session with me to be an introductory and exploratory meeting focused on building rapport, setting expectations, and beginning to understand their reasons for seeking therapy. Typically, the session will start with introductions and an overview of therapy, including your role, the confidentiality policy, and logistical details such as session length, fees, and cancellation policies. I will then invite clients to share what brought them to therapy, their current difficulties, and any therapy goals or expectations they may have, while reassuring them that they only need to share what they feel comfortable with.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
My greatest strength as a therapist is likely reflected in my capacity for empathy, adaptability, and effective communication, along with my ability to help clients identify and build on their own strengths. What stands out about my therapeutic approach is the genuine focus on establishing a collaborative and supportive relationship, fostering resilience, and integrating methods that fit each client’s unique context. My results may be marked by clients feeling empowered, understood, and more confident in their ability to handle challenges, which contributes to positive therapeutic outcomes.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
Prospective clients best served are those with common therapy concerns such as anxiety, depression, stress, relationship difficulties, academic or job transitions, and adjustment to life changes like parenthood or separation. Ideal clients often share a mindset of wanting personal growth, symptom reduction, improved relationships, or achieving emotional well-being. They may value therapy as a safe, non-judgmental space where trust and rapport are prioritized, especially if they are hesitant or have had prior negative experiences. Therapy goals might include managing specific diagnoses, coping with life transitions, identity development, or overcoming resistance to engagement. Clients seeking services that align with their cultural, religious, or identity values, and who prefer certain modes of participation (in-person, online, intensive) are also well positioned to benefit
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
CBT is based on the idea that thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected, and that changing unhelpful thoughts leads to changes in feelings and actions. Therapy is present-focused, problem-oriented, and emphasizes helping clients become their own therapists by providing practical tools and strategies for self-management. It is widely researched and recommended for treating depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance use, and various other psychiatric and chronic medical conditions.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Acceptance: Allowing thoughts and emotions to exist without trying to avoid, suppress, or change them. Cognitive Diffusion: Learning to observe your thoughts as just thoughts, not literal truths that must determine your behavior. Being Present: Cultivating mindfulness and awareness of the current moment instead of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
DBT teaches four main sets of skills: 1. Mindfulness: learning to stay present and aware in the moment without judgment. 2. Distress tolerance: coping with crises and intense emotions without making things worse (for example, instead of self-harm or substance use). 3. Emotion regulation: understanding, naming, and changing emotions, and reducing vulnerability to emotional extremes. 4. Interpersonal effectiveness: asking for what you need, saying no, and maintaining relationships and self-respect. The therapeutic relationship itself acts as a model for rebuilding trust and healthy connections in the client's life, serving as a "secure base" for personal growth and healing.
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative counseling style that helps people resolve mixed feelings about change and strengthen their own motivation and commitment to specific behavior changes. It is both client-centered and gently directive, aiming to draw out a person’s own reasons for change rather than persuading or arguing with them
Existential
What sessions are like: Sessions are usually a deep, collaborative conversation about your real, lived experience—your values, fears, regrets, and hopes—rather than a focus on diagnosis or techniques. The therapist explores how you relate to big questions (Who am I? What do I want? What kind of life do I want to lead?) and how anxiety, depression, or “stuckness” may reflect avoidance of choices or meanings that matter to you. When it can help: Life transitions (loss, divorce, retirement, career change), identity crises, or feeling that life is empty or directionless. Struggles around freedom vs. obligation (staying or leaving a job/relationship, choosing a path) and intense anxiety about death, illness, aging, or failure.