Hi, I'm Tara. I'd like to tell you a little about myself since I will be asking a lot about you! I come from a pretty dysfunctional family background with a lot of addiction and strife. So after I completed undergraduate school, I worked at a residential substance use disorder facility in Virginia, working with families of patient's there. I learned that folk with substance use issues also have depression, anxiety, bi polar disorder, and other mental health and social skill and communication problems. This prompted me to do something I said I would never do...... go back to school. I started Graduate school in 1992 and finished in 1994 and received my MA in Professional Counseling. I worked at a CSB and did my residency there. I took both my CSAC and my LPC with months of one another and was Certified for Substance Abuse Counseling in 2000 and received my LPC in 2001 and started working for myself in February 2001. I work with adolescents, ,college students and adults. When I am not working, I volunteer with a cat rescue group and I take care of "bottle babies" in the spring and raise them until they are old enough to be adopted. I enjoy going to the movies, the theatre, musicals, reading mysteries, watching netflix and prime video and cooking. I love my 7 cats and one dog.(Considering getting 2 pet rats from a rescue). I am very Client Centered, meaning - I don't think the therapy can go very far if there isn't a therapeutic connection. I work with anxiety disorder, substance use disorders, depression, Bi Polar disorder, Parenting . If you do not make yourself a priority, you cannot be the best friend, partner, wife, husband, employee, parent, friend, Truly, I am here to help you in whatever you are experiencing.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
After our first session, I hope that you will feel some weight lifted off of your shoulders. Many of my first time client's remarks following their session is "I didn't know how much just saying things out loud helped - I don't feel as heavy." That's what I want you to take away from your first session with me. After your first session, I want you to take away that you are not alone in this journey of healing and that as you learn to trust me, you will feel more invested in the changes you want to make. Sometimes after the sessions, there are tears, sometimes there are many thoughts rolling around,, sometimes there is anger, and sometimes there is self or other forgiveness.
What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?
I use Client Centered, Solution Focused, Mindfulness, CBT, and Talk Therapy
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I believe my biggest areas of strengths are listening to what is being said and not being said, reading body language, being present with you during our sessions, making observations. I don't tell people what to do, I don't have that power nor would I want to, but I do share suggestions that you might try to help certain situations.