Greetings! I'm a Columbia University trained NYS Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I offer holistic, integrative mental health treatment backed by solid and reputable research. I blend mindful cognitive behavioral therapy and writing therapy with education on nutrition, exercise, meditation, and supplements. I've also trained with David Kessler in grief counseling and can help bring clarity and hope to the misery of bereavement.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
My experience has taught me that by the time someone gets to me, they are usually eager to share what brought them to therapy. After sharing a little more about who I am and my approach to therapy, we will use that first session for you to share your story. No worries if that sounds overwhelming; I always have just the right questions to help you get started!
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I learned to listen and practice empathy by being raised in an environment where those qualities were hard to find. I often say that I became a Social Worker at age 12 when, after fighting back bullies on my own behalf, I walked over to where a bully was tormenting a peer and told him to “knock it off.” After working hard to find my own voice, I came to understand that I had a role to play in helping others find theirs. Sometimes that means figuring out what that voice would have sounded like when it was still silent. I’m honored to companion people back to the most pivotal periods of their lives to give sound to silent scenes that are making themselves heard decades later through undesirable traits and behaviors, or maybe depression and anxiety. My later lived experience in NYC, The International House, East Harlem, Washington Heights, and the south side of Chicago lend cultural sensitivity, insight, and commitment.
About Donna Trimm
Appointments
Virtual
My treatment methods
Grief Therapy
As a former oncology and nephrology Social Worker and Hospice Bereavement Coordinator, I have several years of experience in grief and loss. Too often, grieving people are seen as just not being "tough" enough. They get quick assessments and kneejerk prescriptions to try to help them "get back to normal." Instead, we'll come to understand that real strength is being able to give the pain you feel a legitimate place in your life, while not allowing it to have the only place in your life. Certificate: Professional Education Systems Institute - David Kessler on Healing Grief & Loss 2023.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
We have more power to heal ourselves than we think! We will learn about the CBT triangle, which positions our thoughts at the top of the pyramid. These thoughts lead to feelings, which ultimately produce behaviors. Learning to challenge our automatic thoughts before blindly accepting them helps break old patterns of both depression and behavior. We’ll use exposure therapy to confront irrational fears, deep breathing and grounding exercises to relieve anxiety, and role playing to build confidence in difficult situations.
Integrative
I became passionate about holistic health when faced with some of my own family's health issues and the stunning lack of inquiry into root causes by mainstream Western medicine. The rush to medicate symptoms using strong pharmaceuticals with short research histories and terrifying side effects propelled me to spend the last 23 years learning and practicing herbal, Ayurvedic, and integrative methods backed by solid and reputable research. I offer the opportunity to do the hard work worth doing - separating overlapping issues and connecting causes to effects. Together we will work to understand your role and the role of others in your current mental health struggles, connecting present choices and behaviors to past events such as abuse, neglect, trauma, bullying, and bereavement.
Narrative
You are not your problems; your problems are your problems. Through writing and other expressive arts assignments, you will get to step outside your own perspective and see your issues as a third party sees them, empowering you to make surgical changes in your thought patterns and behavior and “rewrite” your life story for a future that reflects who you really want to be.
Psychoeducation
Everything I practice is backed by reputable research and I bring that knowledge into each session. I believe very strongly in Maya Angelou's famous statement, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." This means applying the latest research on effective healing methods to issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and grief, among other issues. Together, we will learn what "better" means for each individual, and how to go about doing it.
