Hi! My name is Claire and I'm a licensed mental health therapist with the state of Florida. I received my masters in Mental Health Counseling in 2013 and have been working in the field since then. I've worked in all aspects of mental health including private practice, outpatient services, and inpatient therapy services. I enjoy working with an approach that is centered in cognitive behavioral therapy that also stems in solution focused brief therapy and person-centered theory. I have a practice in gaining the rapport of my patient through being able to work with them to understand each individual and to set specific goals so we always know where we are going. Sometimes counseling is a bit like a road trip, without the map we wouldn't know where we are going. My strengths in counseling include depression, anxiety, stress, increasing self-esteem and confidence, coping with life issues, as well as coping with addictions. I also have background in working with bipolar disorder, coping with trauma, increasing communication skills, family/relationship conflicts, and anger management. I look forward to being able to help you in any of these areas or any that may spring up throughout our counseling process. Coming into therapy can be a difficult journey, but it will be the most worthwhile journey for you and I'll be happy to be able to help you throughout the journey. Let's do this together to be able to make the best of it all!
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
During the first session I want to get to know you and what made you want to sign up for therapy in the first place. Deciding to begin therapy can happen for such a large variety of reasons and I want to be able to know what yours is. I'll ask about your background and what you think is important that I know about you. I'll ask about your support system and how they best support you. In addition, on the first session we will also begin to discuss what your treatment goals are. What is that you want to be working towards?
What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?
My most common treatment method is cognitive behaivorial therapy which examines the relationship between how we think and feel and how we behave. Sometimes distortions and past difficulties can cloud our heads when thinking about a current situation. I want to be able to help in letting you learn how to listen to your true and rational thoughts to give you the ability to respond in all types of situations, as opposed to reacting to those situations. When you get to choose your response, and not have a reaction in which you might later regret, it gives you the confidence and feelings of self-worth that most of us crave in our lives.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
Some would say my strengths include my ability to listen to you and be there to support you, but not so blindly. Sometimes it's the job of the therapist to be able to be the support that you may be lacking, and sometimes it's to be the voice of reason that your loved ones may not know how to give you. I'm not here to co-sign on bad ideas or unhealthy and toxic behaviors, but I am here to help you in realizing what healthy thoughts and behaviors are and how to be able to keep working towards the good changes instead of slipping back into comfortable and familiar patterns that might be the reasons why we live in emotional pain.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I work mainly with a wide variety of clients who mainly want to be able to work on increasing their self-esteem and reducing any anxiety or depression symptoms that they may be having. Sometimes in life we weren't taught how to be able to cope with the outside world and I also like to make sure that we take some time setting up coping tools that you can be able to to use for yourself.