LMFT, 18 years of experience
Welcome! Seeking help and support is a huge first step that can be scary and I am honored to be considered to join you along your journey of healing, self-improvement, and working towards achieving your goals. I have worked in mental health for 17 years and have experience working in residential treatment centers, homeless shelters, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, juvi, jails, prisons, ERs, County crisis work, and private practice settings providing individual and group therapy in person and now virtually. I earned my Master's Degree in Marriage, Couple, Family, and Child Counseling at CSUS with my undergraduate degree in Psychology.
In our first session together, we'll start with brief introductions, a biopsychosocial assessment, education on rights and limits to confidentiality as well as the therapy process. I will answer any questions you have and then dive into the specific challenges you're facing. I ask that you describe how your struggles impact you, what your struggles are, what "better" will look like and also what help looks like. It is helpful to know previous therapy experiences, what works and doesn't work for you, medications and your views on them, and information about your other social supports. This will help me create a tailored plan for us to work through in follow-up sessions.
I believe my strengths are acceptance, I meet people where they are at, I provide psychoeducation as clinically appropriate, and I teach skills to help the person improve their coping ability, decision making, relationships, communication, emotion regulation, and overall life functioning. I have received feedback that I am compassionate, direct, supportive, and I help people find acceptance, their voices and confidence again.
I do my best to work with someone where they are at, who has insight and desire to change, but maybe needs some guidance, more skills, or simply support in navigating life's stressors, managing their emotions, relationships, and triggers, all while working towards their goals in life. I have extensive experience in crisis and trauma so I bring many years of experience with me, and trauma is not something that I shy away from. It takes courage to heal as well as time, skills, and support. I only work with individuals as that is my specialty. I do not provide coupes or family therapy.
I have found integrating mindfulness psychoeducation with interventions and skills to help the person connect to their body has been extremely helpful; and therefore, helping the individual gain beneficial insight and improved ability to control the body's responses to life. This in turn makes managing our emotions a little easier and it can also make managing life's stressors more manageable. People often feel subject to and often even dictated by their emotions, and this causes many mixed emotions. A disconnect between the mind, the body, and our emotions complicates our ability to control our emotions, impulses, and often our actions. Improving this mind-body-emotion connection is extremely beneficial and this is achieved through mindfulness practices, skills, and activities.
I utilize CBT theories, interventions, and skills heavily in my work and believe the way we think 100% influences our emotions, our behavior, and our ability to cope with and function as we want in life. Working to change the way we think, be able to shift perspectives, consider all options, and control our conscious decision making is essential for success in life and relationships. I try to guide the person to change their patterns of thinking, challenge and detract from distorted thinking patterns, and simultaneously change their behavioral responses to triggers and situations to improve overall confidence and functioning. All this within the goals they set for themselves in the therapy process.
I believe therapy is meant to be a support and a resource for the person to improve their life, quality of life, and accomplish their goals. This support is meant to be as long as it needs to be for each individual person, but also effective for their goals in case they want shorter term therapy. A mix of approaches, interventions, and skills will be Intergrated as clinically appropriate for the person's goals and therapeutic goals/needs.
This is a subset of CBT therapy and will be Intergrated as clinically appropriate for the person's goals and therapeutic goals/needs. This approach, Lense, and DBT skills focus on increasing one's distress tolerance skills, emotion regulation skills, self-soothing skills, while combining with mindfulness awareness, acceptance, and reality testing skills. Therefore, reducing impulsivity and increasing self-control as well as competence in emotion regulation. The more we know the better we can do, if we choose. ACT is also subset of CBT therapy and will be Intergrated as clinically appropriate for the person's goals and therapeutic goals/needs.
I have extensive experience working in crisis settings and with families and individuals severely impacted by trauma. So much happens in our world and so many suffer from Big T and Little T traumas, through all walks and stages of life. These experiences have to be carefully considered and supported through processing in order to achieve true healing. Everyone grieves and heals at their own pace, so it is critical to meet the person where there currently are at in their grieving and healing process.
9 ratings with written reviews
June 30, 2025
One of the best therapists I have ever had.
June 11, 2025
I have been working with Tess for over a year and she keeps me focused, works with me on solutions, provides positive feedback and consistently reminds me the importance of self - care. I am so grateful for her.
June 6, 2025
While I can only pick two qualities that stand out about Tess's therapy style, she is not only empowering and intelligent, she is also open-minded, warm, humorous, authentic, and when needed solution oriented. It is always a pleasure working with Tess.