(she/her)
New to Grow
I have worked in the mental health field for over 20 years- 14 of those as a therapist. I love my work, even when it's hard. I chose to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker because it fits with my own holistic view of treatment. Social Work considers individual mental health through the lens of the person's environment, family situation, social connections, access to resources, financial circumstances, and the like. In addition to whatever our primary need is, our world also affects our mental health. And that needs to be considered in how we approach treatment. I began my career as a therapist at Humboldt County Behavioral Health in Eureka, CA. My years working at the county in outpatient, inpatient, addiction treatment, and crisis service programs provide a depth and breadth of experience that is hard to acquire elsewhere. I view therapy as a team effort, a relationship developed through trust and clear communication. You are the one doing the work, and my job is to support you along the way, offer guidance, education, help you feel safe, and be your cheerleader. Collaboration, discussion, and experimentation with treatment modalities are an essential part of the process. I see therapy as exciting, with lots of opportunity to learn and grow and incorporate new information and experiences. We are all so different, we will work together to make sure you are confident that your therapy is realistic and meaningful to you. Progress is achieved only if both the client and the therapist put in the work and share the load. Your healing journey may be a difficult one, but not impossible. It is an honor to be part of this journey with you.
Starting with a new therapist often creates anxiety, but is exciting, as well. My goal for our first appointment is to help you feel safe and as comfortable as possible. I want to hear whatever history you are comfortable sharing, including any previous experiences you've had in therapy and what you are hoping to get out of our work together. Because you're just meeting me, I don't expect you to jump in to difficult history. You are the one will determines when you are ready. Our goal isn't to open wounds, it's to begin and support your healing. We will focus on what you and your goals for therapy, to create a treatment plan. Your treatment plan will be individualized to your needs, and include adjustable timelines for achieving identified goals. Your goals will be realistic, collaborative, and will evolve with you as needed. A successful treatment plan is not set in stone, and does sometimes require revisiting and revising. When you leave your first session, you'll have a plan in place, ideas of ways to meet your goals, and possible ways I can be of support. Sometimes, once the initial plan has been created, people will reflect and change their minds. If this happens for you, we revisit the plan and make the changes. I'm here for you, and I want to ensure you are confident and comfortable with your plan. Our shared goal is to see meaningful progress as soon as possible, as it reflects your own personal situation. When clients feel it would be useful, I like to begin and end our sessions with breathing or movement exercises. Many find this to be helpful in getting grounded in the therapeutic space, and then having an ending to the session that allows them to go on with their day. If after meeting with me you don't feel that I'm a good fit, I'm happy to support you in finding another provider. Relationship is the most important part of doing this work, and sometimes people just don't click. And that's ok. In my experience, this is rarely an issue. I don't want you to feel you are stuck or have yet another obstacle to overcome. This is a difficult topic, but especially with people living with certain disorders, suicidal ideation is common. If this is something we need to address, let's talk about it the first couple of sessions. I worked in crisis services and inpatient settings where suicidality was common. The important thing in this experience is talking about what you're feeling openly and honestly. More often than not, talkin
I have very high retention rates with my clients, and have had a very successful career so far, largely through client referrals and positive reviews. My early experiences with acutely mentally ill clients taught me that humor and relationship tend to be the most important tools in a therapeutic relationship. I see this as your work to do, and I am here to provide assistance and support. I have a very direct and honest style that resonates with a lot of people; they find it helpful and tell me they feel that I can be trusted. Part of this, I think, is because I
Most of my career has been in outpatient and inpatient agency settings where I rarely had a choice in the clients I worked with. Consequently, I have a well developed set of skills which allow me to develop rapport and connection with many people. That said, I especially enjoy working with clients who recognize something needs to change, and although they may not know what to do or how to do it, nevertheless make the decision to do the work to create that change. Everyone has culture, whether they recognize it or not. At the client's discretion, incorporating traditions, beliefs, rituals, and ways of learning can be transformative in therapy. Healing can be a difficult process, and it sometimes gets harder before it gets better. I respect that everyone has their own needs and works at their pace. My goal in supporting you through this process if to help you learn to contain judgement of yourself and learn give yourself patience, grace, understanding, and time. Motivation comes from learning to celebrate successes and learn from less successful experiences. I value your feedback, your suggestions, and your sharing what you learn outside of our sessions. This is a trust relationship which may need time to build. I trust you to tell me if something doesn't feel right for you, if you just don't like something, or if you want to try another way. This information is essential to my being able to hold up my end of our work. I'm proud of you for starting this journey! It's an honor to be a part of it.
Trauma Informed Care
People experience trauma very differently. Many of us learn to believe that what happened to us was somehow our fault. Many of us learn to compare our trauma to others as a way to minimize our experience. Many of us learn to repress our trauma, and do our best to ignore how it affects us. And for some of us, what happened was so normalized in our environment we don't even understand it was traumatic. Trauma Informed Care is a team effort. I will work with you to develop a treatment plan that is realistic, appropriate for your situation, respectful, and can be changed/adapted as needed. The first work we do is helping you feel safe. It is common for survivors of trauma to have difficulty maintaining a relationship with therapy. I respect this, and I will provide a private, non-judgmental space to support you. You do not have to talk about your or relive your experience until you feel ready; the timing of that is for you to decide. A huge part of trauma treatment is understanding how our lived experience impacts us mentally, emotionally, and physically. You aren't broken, you aren't damaged goods, you are a survivor. We will start treatment with exploring ways to help calm your nervous system and understand how our fight/flight/freeze response impacts us systemically. We will learn the difference between problematic behaviors and triggers, and focus on developing healthy coping strategies to manage them. I will also help you find and connect with any available community resources that may be of additional support. How we go about doing these things will depend on what you feel will work for you. Talking, writing, body movement, and playing games are among the many interventions in Trauma Informed Care. We may need to try different approaches; if something doesn't work, it doesn't mean failure, it just means it wasn't helpful for you. I can't read your mind, so I will trust you to tell me if something is not right. It's important that we discuss things and work together. I will not get upset with you for expressing your thoughts and feelings. The reality is healing is hard, and sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. It is an honor to be part of this work with you. We will get through it as it comes.
Attachment-based
We learn how to develop attachment or others beginning in early infancy. These patterns develop over time and are sometimes at the root of what we identify as problems. Learning about our attachment style is only a small part the process. We also need to be able to understand and self-reflect on how our style affects us and the people in our lives. This them allows us to make necessary changes in how we assign responsibility to our selves and others. Attachment-based approaches can be transformative in healing multiple concerns, including developmental trauma, relationship dysfunction, co-dependency, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and communication.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
ACT provides a practical framework for managing issues that interfere with being able to live your best life. It sounds simple, but the process of accepting the reality of your situation and how it impacts you mentally, emotionally, and/or physically without judgement can be complicated. Once this has been worked through, identifying and developing a plan to manage the issue that can address the issue may come together fairly quickly, but implementing that plan may be uncomfortable, scary, and will require giving yourself patience, grace, and time. ACT helps build the confidence you'll need to be effective. I will support you in the way that is best for you. In addition to personal narrative, discussion, and educational information, I'm happy to provide homework assignments if you find that helpful. I can also help in finding community resources if needed (and available.) Concepts of ACT can also be combined with other treatment modalities, allowing for further individualization.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I believe there is no one magic treatment that will work for everyone; what is a miracle for one person may mean nothing to another. Therapy needs to be a team effort in which we work together to decide what the best approach is for you, your lifestyle, culture, economic situation, this list goes on. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is one of my preferred methods because I find it one of the most individually adaptable. Also, the core concepts of DBT can integrate with other therapeutic approaches to provide useful, meaningful strategies and support. In DBT, we focus on developing balance between our emotions and logic, created by learning to recognize what influences our reactions to our environment and the people in it, identifying healthy, realistic coping skills, understanding our emotions and learning how to feel them in a healthy way. While doing this work, we identify and develop a tool box for emotion regulation and self-soothing which may be profound and life changing. In addition to giving you a safe, non-judgmental space to share your experience, I provide educational materials and coaching. If the client wants it, I will also offer support through homework in the form of worksheets and journal prompts. The self-reflection and recognition of how our emotions and critical thought work together DBT provides is, in my opinion, valuable to everyone.