LCSW, 6 years of experience
New to Grow
Hello, I’m Celest and I am so happy you are here! I want to share a little about myself to help you feel more comfortable. Professionally, my background includes experiences supporting people navigating complex mental health conditions, neurological disorders, chronic illnesses and those on hospice care. All of which deeply shapes my approach to 1:1 therapy. I use an empathic lens with an eclectic approach pulling from humanistic, feminist, somatic, narrative, existential, cognitive behavioral, acceptance and commitment, and emotionally focused therapies. Outside of my time offering therapy I enjoy a variety of hobbies and interests ranging from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (almost at blue belt), paddle boarding, reading, and learning Japanese. I have a two year old shiba pup and nine year old cat who teach me about unconditional love and patience every day. I have put in my own time as a therapy client of over 4 years and currently see a personal coach to help me meet my goals. I truly know how vulnerable it feels talking with someone about the hardest things we think, feel, and have experienced. There is also space for laughter, discussing passion, hopes, and finding joy in therapy too. It can be challenging, rewarding, and is almost guaranteed to change your life if you want it to. I’d love to get to know you and explore whether we’re a good fit. If so, we’ll begin building a safe, grounded space where you can process your experiences, name your feelings, reflect on your unique worldview and live out your values.
In our first session, we’ll spend time exploring what brought you here—your experiences, concerns, and what you’re hoping to gain from therapy. That may take up most of our time, and that’s completely okay. Before we wrap up, we’ll briefly go over what to expect from the therapy process and set an intention or goal to carry with you between sessions and into our next meeting.
My time working with individuals receiving hospice care profoundly shaped me as a person. I got comfortable going deep, sitting with pain, conflicting emotions, and life’s big questions: What does it all mean? How do we find our place in the world while staying true to ourselves? Do I have relationships that truly fulfill me? Do people really see me? These are transformative questions that many people long to ask, yet few spaces truly allow for them. I strive to be someone who can hold that space—with presence, authenticity, and compassion.
If you are considering me as a therapist, you may be a person who has experienced some adversity, heartache, or even trauma. These experiences have shaped you for better and for worse and you are wondering what life will be like going forward as you start to process and feel better. Or you may find yourself asking deep questions about life, how to live authentically and find your place and your people. Or you may just not feel quite right about one or many aspects of your day to day life and relationships, and are wondering if anything needs to change, or if there is a path to feeling better and more fulfilled. There is space here for you!
Within an eclectic approach, I pull in cognitive behavioral principles to help process experiences and how that shapes thoughts, emotions and behaviors. We may talk about ideas like cognitive distortions and finding evidence for distressing thoughts to promote self awareness and coping.
Trauma informed care means that together we carry the awareness and heartache and the sense of danger that might linger in the body and mind following a single or series of traumatic events. That sense of danger can drastically impact all aspects of life, including relationships, work, self care, and moving forward.
Awareness of emotions and how one experiences them can be a great starting place to begin healing within and with the important people in our life. It’s about finding and transforming stuck emotions to then move through the world more grounded.
Strengths based treatment simply means we use your unique strengths, interests, experiences, and resources to help meet your goals.
Somatic therapy can be used to tap into the emotional experiences that linger in our body. I can walk with you through breath work and mindfulness techniques to pin point those emotions, then process and release them from the nervous system.