LMHC, 6 years of experience
New to Grow
Hi, my name is Samantha and I enjoy the work that I do with my clients. I always say it is a privilege to be a part of someone's journey towards healing and to get to see the vulnerability that therapy opens people to. I am a compassionate therapist that provides space to build in trust and safety for the opportunity of change to grow. Together we can embark on your journey to well-being and grow into the version of yourself you are aspiring to be.
A first sessions is all about getting comfortable with one and another and establishing rapport/ potential goals for therapy. I go at your pace. I understand that I am a stranger to you and it may feel weird, nerve-wrecking, or distrusting our first few sessions. I am here for all of it. Let me into how you are feeling about it and we can slowly build a therapeutic relationship that feels safe, trusting, and comforting to be able to embark on this mental health journey.
My biggest strength is that I have been on the "other side of the couch" and with that being said, knowing what change, growth, and discomfort feels like is important in how I am as a therapist to my clients. As a client, the journey is not always easy, but my approach of compassion and diverse approaches based on the individual clients needs is what sets me apart. One shoe does not fit all clients and therefore, my approach will be different based on the needs you are looking for in therapy to achieve. Being diverse in treatment modalities can help "fit the shoe" you are looking for.
I best serve clients that are ready to embark on their journey of mental well-being. A client that is ready to apply what we speak about in sessions to their everyday life and is ready to welcome change. If you are hesitant to begin, I welcome that, all I ask is that you are open to the process and willing to give it a fair chance for change. My speciality is depression, anxiety, women's issues, and trauma.
I thrive at meeting you where you are at in therapy and building a therapeutic foundation together to get through your journey in therapy. The approach is person-centered and follows your lead on how you would like to begin approaching topics to build in therapy.
CBT is an important approach in standard therapy used for treating anxiety and depression. I am not a therapist that does worksheets in session, but instead implement CBT dynamics through talk therapy. In sessions we identify together core beliefs and thought patterns that are impacting daily functioning and offer reframing/ new adjustable thoughts that help with building the version of yourself you wish to live by.
I am a therapist that is compassionate by nature and therefore, approach clients in a compassionate way. While my approach is compassionate, I also firmly believe that we cannot begin to change circumstances with continued harsh self-judgment. Compassion focused is a treatment led by compassion and learning to reframe harsh self-judgement into self-compassion to promote change in ones life. We identify ways to introduce self-compassion language with ourselves and welcome the opportunity for change from there.
Being a therapist from latin cultural background, I understand how culture can impact ones life/ decisions/ belief systems. With that in mind, I am a culturally sensitive therapist that meets you where you would like to change. Culture sometimes also holds our beliefs and it is important to take into account how much you would like to change versus retain. I am here to go on this journey with you, while also being sensitive to your individual cultural needs/ beliefs.
As a therapist I believe that we all act from familiarity and that also means repeating patterns/ cycles from early childhood to present. I implement psychodynamic through exploring times of past experiences and how that is currently shaping you present day. By acknowledging these patterns, it offers the opportunity for clarity and change in behaviors/ patterns that are no longer serving in the same way.