(she/her)
New to Grow
I have known I wanted to work with people since I was in elementary school. By my psychology class in high school, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. When I was getting my undergraduate degree, my grandparents, whom had been a major emotional support for me, had been diagnosed with dementia. I learned firsthand the stress that can create for individuals and families. My next step was graduate school where I began to learn the skills and strategies to work with people and help them. Since then, I have worked with individuals and families during some of their more stressful times to process and identify their thoughts and feelings while implementing helpful change.
A 15 minute consultation call before choosing a therapist may help a person feel more comfortable, so I am happy to do that. My priority is to hear from the person on their life currently, their perspective on potential changes they'd like to see in their life, and how they've established when their goals are met. Based on those factors, I work to take clinical knowledge along with the client expressing how that can be applied in their life for progress. I utilize applicable standardized tools to also structure potential interventions and conversations with clients. I truly enjoy working with those who feel therapy is a support for their progress.
I hope that my clients' experience with me stands out because it feels both respectful of their individuality and humanity while being professional and knowledge-based. My primary goal is that a person feels like they are being understood, not just a diagnosis being treated.
I enjoy working with anxiety disorders, depression, and individuals who have experienced traumatic events in their lives. I feel most allied with individuals who are either aware that there is a problem they would like to address or know the problem they would like to address and are looking for tools to address the problems. They are open to modifying their thoughts, behavior, and surroundings.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I like to look at how thoughts interact with a person’s social environment, family dynamics, and stressors. I use CBT and open-ended questions to help the person and I discover the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and actions. For example, "I felt sad, so I didn't hang out with my friends, and then I thought I was a terrible friend." Although feelings are valid, they can lead to actions and behaviors we don't like and thoughts, even about ourselves, that lead to continuation of the triggering feelings and behavior. Once those connections are made, I like to work with individuals on patterns that will work for them more consistently.
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
I like to weave cultural sensitivity and humility into every interaction I have with another individual. The life a person lives and how they experience others' behaviors profoundly shapes their mental health. With this, I hope that individuals are comfortable and able to share what is most important to them so I am able to assist therapeutically.
Eclectic
I use an eclectic treatment approach to tailor treatment to individual's specific needs. I have frequently found that the greatest benefit results from utilizing more than one approach dependent upon the topic, comfort, and history of the individual. Intentionally choosing an intervention based on what has worked for similar problems in the past has been most effective. For example, checking in with bodily sensations to bring more awareness is effective for those who feel challenged in slowing down their mind and focusing on the present moment. However, for someone who is very aware, or even afraid, of bodily sensations they experience could lead them feeling overwhelmed and like something is wrong. I would take two different paths in those two instances while discussing with the individual how to make the intervention the most effective.
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)
I use ERP techniques to guide an individual through the process of voluntarily facing their fears while consciously choosing not to perform the ritual/behavior that usually follows. This is done because the ritual/behavior provides temporary relief to the individual and is, what feels like too quickly, repeated by the individual for again temporary relief. It's extremely common for an individual to feel frustrated by the ritual behavior, but ERP is only done in ways and at times that the individual is comfortable with.
Trauma Informed Care
Trauma impacts our brain and shades how we see and interpret experiences from that point forward. My first priority in working with an individual is fostering a sense of total safety in our session. After an individual feels safe, it's important to me that I listen to an individual's perspective and work with them so discomfort, triggers, and distressful feelings are identified, managed, and validated so that triggers become less powerful in the individual's life.