New to Grow
Hello! I am glad you are here. I am a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) who has worked with youth, families, and adults in multicultural settings for a nearly a decade. I integrate community connection into therapy, as I believe connection to others and to our world guides us in reimagining how we wish to exist in relationship with ourselves and others. I fuse my experience working abroad for three years in Peace Corps, as well as my present experience in clinical leadership, to build a foundation that centers developmentally appropriate, evidence-based therapeutic modalities with individuals and family systems to support current and ongoing needs. I specialize in crisis stabilization, stress management, and behavioral therapy for youth, families, and adults, as well as grief work across the lifespan. To enhance my understanding of behavioral presentations and appropriate assessment and integration of individualized needs, I prioritize continuing education courses focused on the ethics of culturally competent diagnosis and assessment of sensorimotor processing disorders, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder in youth, adolescents, and adults.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
Our first session together is always a 60 to 90-minute biopsychosocial intake assessment to ensure I have a comprehensive understanding of your history and current needs to inform diagnosis and clinical goals. My intention during this assessment is not to pepper you with questions, but to understand how you see important events of your life, and how these events influence who you are today. We will discuss a provisional diagnosis at the completion of the intake assessment and develop a preliminary treatment plan based on your goals. My intention in this process is for you to be an active participant in shaping your time in therapy. I primarily utilize the following modalities to inform our work together: CBT, TF-CBT, DBT techniques, and ACT. Depending on your clinical needs and preferred approach toward therapy, we will integrate attachment lenses, somatic work, and narrative techniques into our work together to support you in identifying behavioral patterns and shifts.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
I move at your pace and integrate what is important and reflective of you into our work together. You are the expert of your life, and the time we share together is an opportunity to explore patterns and themes of what is central to you. By prioritizing a person-centered, strengths-based approach, we can develop, assess and update individualized service goals that are most aligned with your needs. This is a skill I have learned to weave into therapy as a result of my work in crisis stabilization, as well as from my prior experience of working in community health clinics abroad, where cultural competence leads pathways in understanding individual and community needs to create understanding and facilitate change.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I do not assign homework; however, I may occasionally encourage you to integrate an intervention we have practiced together into your daily routines if therapeutically beneficial. I hope that you come away from our sessions having had a place to express and process your needs, feelings and reflections. Ideally, you will leave our weekly or biweekly shared space with individualized skills or thoughts that guide you in your therapeutic goals.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I primarily utilize CBT and TF-CBT when working with individuals to develop coping skills, and to support individuals in recognizing the relationship between personal beliefs and actions we take as a result of these beliefs. When I utilize CBT, I do not solely take a talk-therapy approach. I integrate mindfulness techniques into the beginning of sessions and utilize motivational interviewing to allow us to discover core beliefs and work together toward reframing healthier thoughts and patterns.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
I primarily utilize ACT for grief work, life transitions, and conflict.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I primarily utilize DBT techniques for crisis intervention work, suicidal ideation, self-harming behaviors, and understanding conflict styles.