Shalom and welcome! I'm Kay, and I provide warm, gentle counseling to people of all ages. Even though I have a lot of grey hairs, I am new to this career. After two decades in nonprofit management, I returned to school and earned a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Shippensburg University in May 2019. That means that I bring both lived experience, as a working mother, and professional training to my work with clients.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
Sessions with me are nurturing and supportive, giving you the chance to relax and let down some of life's burdens. For child clients, I provide a variety of play and art activities that help reduce stress and improve coping skills. I also actively involve caregivers with bonding activities in sessions and at home, based on my training as a parenting educator in the Incredible Years Series and Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14. With adult and senior clients, I offer deep listening and gentle encouragement on life’s journey. I can help with finding meaning in difficult experiences and improving important relationships.
What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?
I bring a youthful spirit to my work, thanks to my experiences providing child-centered play therapy since graduation. We say play is like a language, helping to express and process experiences that are difficult to put to words. My work with children often revolves around helping grown-ups "hear" and understand their perspective. Increasingly, this involves exploring neurodiversity/high sensitivity issues, as well as gender and sexual identity. Therapeutic videogaming is an approach that works particularly well for adolescents.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I have a personal history of trauma and dissociation, which led me to advanced training in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy. I have used these approaches effectively with families affected by adoption and foster care. Immigrants and refugees are another special interest of mine, and I am conversational in Spanish.