Licensed to practice in Virginia and accepts 12 insurances. Specializes in Anxiety, Emotional Regulation, Trauma and PTSD and 9 more.
New to Grow
I have been practicing some form of counseling/therapy since I started work in victim advocacy in 2018. My work with trauma survivors led to the pursuit of my masters in direct practice social work (MSW) and, ultimately, my license for clinical practice (LCSW) in 2024. I have a strong background and training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and I am fully trained and pursuing my certification in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. I lean into the powerful combination of these two modalities to treat a wide spectrum of personal and emotional conditions including mood, personality, and impulse control disorders. I consider myself a warm and casual clinician. I value comfort and ease in therapeutic relationships, but I also hold my clients to high standards for a good working dynamic that enables change. I enjoy humor and banter, but I seek authenticity above all else, which means you (the client) bring your actual self, not the idealized version of yourself or some version you believe your therapist wants you to be.
What should you expect from a first session? The first session (sometimes the first several sessions) of psychotherapy look pretty standard for most clients. The therapist asks a lot of questions about your current struggles and why you're seeking help, then the questions drift into your background and history. As a therapist, it's helpful for me to know where you grew up and who raised you, what life looked like when you were a kid, and what struggles and/or trauma you've faced up to this point in your life. I also want to know what your life looks like today: who are your friends and supports, what kind of work you do, and what physical health issues might be influencing your current emotional and psychological health? Altogether, this information is only a rough outline of you as a person, but it gives us a clear "jumping off" point to begin planning our work together. What about after the session? Most people feel a sense of relief after talking to a therapist the first time. Treatment hasn't even begun, but something about sharing one's struggles with a neutral, uninvolved person is enough to light a small flame of hope. "Help is on the way. I'm not alone in this anymore."
My clients would say I'm adept at being both supportive and corrective in the same space. I often tell new clients, "Once we've had time to warm up and get to know each other, you will find I'm bolder in calling you out for your harmful behaviors." In DBT we call this irreverence, which really means I don't sugar-coat my professional take. When I insist you come to therapy as your fully authentic self, you can be assured I bring an equivalent authenticity.
I treat a wide variety of individuals across a vast spectrum of backgrounds, circumstances, and life troubles, but nearly everyone comes to therapy with one common issue to address: They believed they could manage a problem in their life on their own, but what they've been doing to cope is no longer working. (Or, their chosen methods worked for a long time, but recently their tried-and-true approach is failing.) Maybe your anxiety has begun to feel unpredictable or unmanageable. Maybe your job is draining the life out of you, but changing careers feels terrifying. Maybe you and your partner don't know how to communicate effectively about the problems in your relationship. Maybe you've been staring at the pile of dishes in the sink for over a week but can't find the motivation to tackle the mess. Maybe you thought you were hiding your issues well, but someone in your life said, "Maybe you should talk to someone."
This is my primary method of therapeutic work. It is proven to be effective for most mental health/emotional conditions, including trauma, anxiety, phobias, self-esteem issues, addiction, OCD, and many more. EMDR is highly structured with clear-cut phases and defined steps for treatment.
DBT serves as a stabilizing support for emotional regulation and distress tolerance during the treatment process. It is highly effective as a primary treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD), but the skills and tools developed in DBT are useful for most people struggling with issues of instability in personal identity and interpersonal relationships.
CBT will always provide useful context in any modality when there is discussion of unhealthy thought processes or harmful patterns of thought and behavior. Many of the tools and methods used in CBT can be applied to treatment plans in combination with innumerable other therapy modalities. CBT tells us the way we think effects the way we feel, so if we change the way we think, we will effectively change the way we feel.
No matter what other modality I use with my clients, IPT provides helpful context for the impact of emotions and distress on interpersonal relationships. Communication, perspective taking, and conflict resolution practices are all useful tools in the process of personal healing, especially where it impacts connection and relationship to others.