New to Grow
I am a licensed mental health therapist with more than ten years of experience supporting individuals through complex emotional, relational, and behavioral challenges. My work is shaped by both professional expertise and my own journey navigating mental health and healing from PTSD. This combination allows me to bring a grounded, compassionate, and authentic approach to therapy. I specialize in helping clients move through anxiety, depression, trauma responses, identity exploration, and life transitions. My clinical lens integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and strength-based practice, with an emphasis on building insight, resilience, and sustainable coping skills. Clients often describe my style as warm, direct, and collaborative. I believe healing is a process of reclaiming clarity, connection, and self-trust. Together, we will identify what is getting in the way, build skills that align with your goals, and create a path forward that feels attainable and empowering. Whether you are navigating longstanding patterns or newly emerging stressors, I provide a steady, judgment-free environment to support meaningful change. If you are ready to take the next step in your mental health journey, I am here to walk alongside you with professionalism, respect, and unwavering support.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
In our first session, you can expect a structured, supportive, and collaborative conversation designed to help us understand your needs and establish a strong therapeutic foundation. We will begin by discussing what brought you to therapy and what you hope to gain from our work together. I will guide you through a comprehensive assessment that includes your mental health history, current symptoms, past treatment experiences, medical considerations, and relevant family history. This helps me develop a clear clinical picture and ensures your care is tailored, safe, and effective. You can also expect space to talk about your strengths, coping strategies, and any immediate concerns that need attention. We will review any initial screening measures, clarify your goals, and outline a plan for how we will approach therapy moving forward. My style is warm, direct, and paced to your comfort. The first session is not about perfection; it’s about understanding you, validating your experience, and beginning the process of building trust. By the end of the session, you will have a clearer sense of the therapeutic process, what our work together can look like, and next steps as we move toward meaningful and sustainable change.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
ChatGPT said: My greatest strengths are the ability to create a safe, grounded space while offering clear, actionable guidance that helps clients move forward. I bring a calm, steady presence that allows clients to feel seen, understood, and respected, even when they are sharing the most vulnerable parts of their story. Clients often tell me they appreciate how I balance compassion with practical problem-solving, offering both emotional support and concrete strategies they can use in their daily lives. What stands out about my therapeutic approach is the way I integrate evidence-based methods with a deeply human perspective. I draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and strength-based practice, tailoring each session to the client’s readiness, pace, and goals. I am intentional about making therapy feel collaborative rather than clinical; together, we identify patterns, build insight, and develop skills that lead to meaningful and sustainable change. My clients frequently report decreased symptom severity, improved emotional regulation, stronger boundaries, and a renewed sense of confidence and clarity. Over time, they begin to reconnect with their values and create healthier relationships with themselves and others. The work is both compassionate and forward-moving: I meet clients exactly where they are, and I help them get where they want to be.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I am best positioned to support clients who are motivated for change but feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure where to begin. Many of the individuals I work with are navigating anxiety, depression, trauma histories, relationship stress, identity shifts, or periods of transition that have left them feeling disconnected from themselves. I’m particularly attuned to clients who have tried managing things on their own for a long time and are now ready for a more structured, supportive, and validating therapeutic space. I work well with clients who want a balance of compassion and practicality: people who appreciate a warm, nonjudgmental presence but also value clear strategies, skills, and insight-driven work. This includes adults seeking to understand recurring patterns, improve emotional regulation, strengthen boundaries, heal from past experiences, or develop healthier ways of relating to themselves and others. I am also a strong fit for clients who resonate with the idea that healing is not linear. Whether you are processing trauma, managing chronic stress, rebuilding after burnout, or learning to trust yourself again, I offer a grounded approach that honors where you’ve been while helping you move toward where you want to go.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I have extensive experience using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a primary modality in treating depression, anxiety, trauma-related symptoms, emotional dysregulation, and maladaptive behavior patterns. My training and ongoing clinical work emphasize the core CBT principle that thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected, and that targeted interventions can meaningfully shift a client’s functioning. In practice, I use CBT in a highly collaborative and goal-oriented format. Early sessions focus on assessment and case conceptualization, identifying the specific cognitive and behavioral patterns contributing to the client’s distress. I integrate structured tools such as the PHQ-9, GAD-7, and functional-impairment measures to track symptom change and ensure our interventions remain responsive and measurable. During treatment, I incorporate cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, exposure-based work when appropriate, and skills training that supports emotional regulation and distress tolerance. I help clients identify automatic thoughts, challenge cognitive distortions, and replace them with more accurate, balanced thinking. Alongside cognitive work, I use behavioral strategies to disrupt avoidance patterns, increase engagement in meaningful activities, and reinforce adaptive habits. Homework and between-session practice are central components, allowing clients to generalize new skills into real-world situations. I tailor assignments to each client’s clinical goals and readiness, reinforcing a sense of agency and self-efficacy. Throughout the process, I maintain a therapeutic stance that is validating, supportive, and forward-focused, helping clients build insight while equipping them with practical tools they can continue using long after treatment concludes. Overall, CBT allows me to deliver structured, evidence-based care while helping clients develop sustainable skills for symptom management, emotional stability, and improved daily functioning.
Motivational Interviewing
I have extensive experience using Motivational Interviewing (MI) as a client-centered, evidence-based approach to enhance motivation for change and strengthen treatment engagement. MI is especially effective in areas where ambivalence is prominent, including mood regulation, substance use, health behaviors, family dynamics, and patterns of avoidance or inconsistency. In my practice, I use MI to help clients clarify their internal motivations by exploring the discrepancy between their present behaviors and their long-term values. The approach is rooted in empathy, collaboration, and respect for client autonomy, creating a therapeutic environment where individuals feel safe examining ambivalence without judgment. During MI-focused sessions, I rely on core skills such as reflective listening, affirmations, open-ended questioning, and strategic summarizing (OARS). These interventions help clients articulate their concerns, identify barriers, and discover their own reasons for change rather than feeling pressured or directed. I use techniques like change talk elicitation, scaling questions, and decisional balance exercises to deepen insight and build momentum. MI is integrated throughout the treatment process rather than confined to a single stage. Early in treatment, it strengthens rapport and readiness. As therapy progresses, MI supports adherence to goals, fosters accountability, and reduces resistance to change. When clients feel stuck, overwhelmed, or uncertain, MI provides a structured yet flexible framework for re-engaging them with their strengths, values, and vision for their future. I also incorporate MI with other modalities, including CBT and DBT skills work. MI helps clients identify the intrinsic motivation needed to apply new coping strategies, follow through with behavioral activation, or implement boundary-setting and communication changes. This blended approach increases treatment adherence and leads to more sustainable outcomes. Overall, MI allows me to deliver respectful, collaborative care that honors the client’s autonomy while guiding them toward meaningful, value-driven change.
Strength-Based
I use a strengths-based framework throughout my clinical work to help clients identify, access, and expand the internal and external resources that support resilience and change. My experience with this approach is grounded in the belief that individuals come to therapy with existing competencies, values, and coping skills that can be leveraged to promote growth, healing, and improved functioning. In practice, I intentionally shift the focus from deficits and pathology to a balanced view that includes capacity, progress, and potential. Early in treatment, I explore a client’s prior successes, natural talents, cultural and relational resources, and the adaptive strategies they have used during previous challenges. This assessment helps create a collaborative case formulation rooted not only in symptoms but also in strengths that can be mobilized in service of their goals. Throughout treatment, I use reflective prompts and narrative techniques that highlight a client’s effort, perseverance, insight, and self-efficacy. I integrate strengths-based language to reinforce improvement in real time and to counteract internal narratives shaped by shame, trauma, or chronic self-criticism. When clients express hopelessness or self-doubt, I help them identify exceptions, abilities, and progress markers that often get overshadowed by distress. This approach is woven into various modalities I use, including CBT, MI, and trauma-informed care. For example, in CBT it strengthens engagement in behavioral activation by identifying meaningful values and prior positive experiences. In MI, it amplifies change talk by centering the client’s existing capacities and successes. In relational work, it supports boundary-setting, empowerment, and improved communication by reinforcing internal strengths already present but underutilized. A strengths-based lens fosters motivation, encourages autonomy, and promotes long-term resilience. Clients often report increased confidence, reduced self-stigma, and a clearer understanding of their ability to influence their own change process. This contributes to sustained improvement in functioning and greater engagement in treatment.