LMHC, 5 years of experience
New to Grow
I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, yoga teacher, and Certified in Integrative Medicine & Nutrition for Mental Health and Trauma Treatment. I am a combat-veteran and have a personal understanding of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder from obstacles faced and currently live a life of Post-traumatic Growth. I have also lived in various countries around the world and traveled abroad. In 2013, I studied yoga and mindfulness in the Himalayas of India at Kailash Tribal School of Yoga and Holistic Healing. On my off-time, I practice yoga and mindfulness daily, as well as enjoy hiking, biking, SUP, weight training, various forms of exercise, gardening, and spending time with my family & friends.
During our first session, we work on building rapport. Since it's our first time meeting, I would like to get to know you and what brings you to the therapy room. I hope to gain more insight into your symptoms and how they are impacting you on a day-to-day basis. I also hope to learn how you have been coping, no judgment at all, just helps me to understand how you have been managing and if there are any areas to improve on. I also hope to learn about your goals for treatment and this is where we start to move forward towards your treatment goals. By the end of our first session, you are provided with tools to start putting into practice towards your treatment goals. Practice makes better!
My treatment approach is client-centered, eclectic & strengths-based within an evidence-based framework. I offer treatment options in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Processing therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Narrative Therapy. From a client-centered perspective and aligns towards client goals then yogic movement, mindfulness meditation, art, and/or nutrition are also supplemented into the session.
I work with Adults 18+ and my specialties include anxiety, depressive symptoms, trauma, military life/culture & first responders, LGBTQIA+ issues, race & cultural issues, somatic issues, and personality disorders.
Through an action-oriented approach, the client learns to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions and, instead, accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to certain situations that should not prevent them from moving forward in their lives. Through acceptance and willingness to change, techniques are put into practice to challenge and support the client towards their goals.
This short-term form of psychotherapy aims to help clients resolve present-day challenges like depression or anxiety, relationship problems, anger issues, stress, or other common concerns that negatively affect mental health and quality of life. The goal of treatment is to help clients identify, challenge, and change maladaptive thought patterns in order to change their responses to difficult situations.
Cognitive processing Therapy is an effective form of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people who have experienced violence, abuse, natural disasters, or other traumatic events. Through clinical discussion, we recognize particular maladaptive or self-blaming thoughts that may be exacerbating PTSD symptoms, and conditions including anxiety and depression that usually occur after the traumatic event. The client will then learn to challenge those thoughts and take a new perspective when appropriate.
Depending on the needs of the client, I combine a variety of disciplines and may use a range of proven methods to determine the best combination of therapeutic tools. Treatment is a customized therapeutic process for each individual by using whatever form of treatment, or combination of treatments, that has been shown to be most effective for a particular problem.
Depending on the needs of the client, the client is provided with mind-body exercises and other physical techniques to help release the pent-up tension that negatively affects a patient’s physical and emotional wellbeing.