LMHC, 33 years of experience
New to Grow
I grew up in South Florida, and I am raising my three teenage/college-aged children here as well. I have been married for over 20 years, and I understand all of the stressors of balancing being a mom, a wife, and having my own career. As an LMHC with over 30 years of experience, I have worked in public and private schools, from elementary to high school, and have served as a college counselor. Additionally, I have worked in private practice and community mental health. I have training as a Parenting Coordinator in high-conflict divorce and have also become a Certified Mediator in the State of Florida. I also have specialized Grief-Informed Training from Children's Bereavement Center, and I have attended several trainings on adolescents, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, and depression. My goal is to provide a safe, warm, and welcoming space for teens and adults to express their feelings. Through the therapeutic process, my role is to strengthen communication and relationships to create more balance, peace, and happiness both within and with others. My motto, "Transforming Struggles into Strengths," moves clients from being a victim of circumstance to feeling strong and empowered to maintain the status quo or make changes and move forward. I bring a calm, gentle approach that uses both challenge and humor to balance stressful moments. I believe that the client is their own best expert, and I assist in strengthening their inner self, which then brings clarity to relationships and increases self-esteem and well-being. Clients will leave our sessions feeling heard and understood, validated, and have confidence and conviction in how they feel. They will have greater insight into who they are, what their next steps are, and they will have developed confidence and self-reliance to accomplish their goals and be their best version of themself.
The first session is yours to tell me whatever you want. I am there to listen and learn more about you in an effort to understand you and your story. It is also a mutual get-to-know-each each other session to make sure we feel that we are a good fit. It is important for you to feel comfortable and feel hopeful and positive that the therapeutic relationship that we form can be the catalyst for change.
It is my greatest joy to watch clients grow from where they start to how they develop throughout our time together. Listening to what you say and what you don't say is one of my strengths, as well as making connections and piecing together connections. I love witnessing those 'Aha' moments. I treat my clients with unconditional positive regard and respect. I employ a range of different therapeutic techniques, including Psychodynamic/Insight Oriented, CBT, Solution Focused, Psychoeducation, Strength Based and Family Systems.
I believe reaching out for help takes tremendous strength and courage. I applaud and respect clients for taking that step in acknowledging that they would like to share their vulnerability and learn more about themselves. I enjoy working with clients ages 10 years old and older all the way through older adults and helping them to make any necessary changes to live their best life.
Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all interconnected. Once we change the way you are thinking about things, your feelings and behaviors will change as well.
We will explore family dynamics, attachment patterns, and relational stressors, explore how past experiences influence current behavior, and gain insight into emotional conflicts, loss, and adjustment. Psychodynamic therapy is helpful to address relationships, stress, anxiety, depression, loss, and adjustment.
I have extensive experience providing psychoeducation across multiple settings—schools, private practice, and community mental-health programs.
I have extensive experience in SFBT across schools, private practice, and clinical settings. School counseling relies heavily on brief, goal-directed, practical interventions which provide short-term counseling focused on immediate, actionable goals. This is done by identifying strengths, resources, and “what’s already working”, using future-oriented questions (e.g., “What would you like to see happen?”) and designing Social Emotional Learning curriculum.