LCSW, 11 years of experience
New to Grow
Hello! My name is Alicia and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 11 years of experience supporting children, adolescents, and families through a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges. While I specialize in working with youth ages 5–18, I am also passionate about supporting young adults in their 20s as they navigate life transitions, relationships, and personal growth. My areas of focus include anxiety, depression, interpersonal relationships, school-related concerns, and building effective coping skills. I use an integrative and collaborative approach, drawing from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, and client-centered principles. My style is warm, personal, and grounded in creating a safe, supportive space where clients feel heard and empowered. Throughout my career, I have worked in school-based counseling, IIC services, and private practice settings. I love being a social worker because it allows me to help people discover their strengths, achieve both big and small milestones, and grow in ways that feel meaningful to them. Witnessing clients become empowered and confident in their ability to create change is the most rewarding part of the work I do.
In our first session, we’ll take time to explore what brings you to therapy and what you hope to achieve moving forward. I’ll ask about your strengths, current symptoms, and aspects of your background—such as family life, relationships, and other experiences that shape your day-to-day. This session is centered entirely on you and gives me the opportunity to begin understanding who you are as a whole person. We’ll also review confidentiality, payment, and any logistical details. I’ll share more about my professional background and therapeutic approach so you can get a sense of how I hope to support you throughout our work together.
I strive to create an open-minded, non-judgmental environment where clients feel safe to share whatever is on their minds. I value encouragement and empowerment, and I make a point to highlight growth as it unfolds—because progress deserves to be recognized and celebrated. My style is warm and inviting, and I aim to foster an atmosphere that supports honest, comfortable, and collaborative communication.
The clients I typically serve range from child, adolescent, teen, or young adult who may be feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, school pressures, relationship challenges, or the transitions that come with growing up in today’s world. They may not always know how to express what they’re feeling, but they’re open to exploring their emotions and trying new strategies to feel more grounded and confident. I aim to create, with the client, a warm, supportive space where they feel seen and understood, and who are willing to collaborate as we build coping skills, strengthen communication, and move toward meaningful personal growth—one step at a time.
CBT is an excellent way to help identify how thoughts impact feelings and behaviors. It is used in a wide variety of ways to help gain awareness in people’s thinking patterns to help practice accepting and appreciating a person’s own alternative view points.
Mindfulness is utilized throughout sessions to help ground a person whether to start the session or to help de-escalate a person experiencing high levels of negative feelings and thoughts. It is used to help create new skills that can be generalized outside of the session and into everyday life.
Motivational interviewing is utilized to help gain rapport and build the relationship with the client but also asses their readiness for change. It’s one of the most important steps in creating a therapeutic relationship with the client.
Psychoeducation is used throughout sessions. It’s especially important for a client to know and understand how and why the brain works and it gives them a place to start working towards realizing change is possible when they’re more educated with correct information.
Dependent upon what is being discussed solution focused therapy can be effective, especially for clients struggling to identify realistic and achievable outcomes. It helps the client feel confident and encourages action.