New to Grow
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Sex Therapist with extensive training providing trauma-informed integrative sex and couples therapy. My experience working with couples has given me the ability to translate important couples therapy concepts interventions within an individual therapy framework, towards the goal of helping people remove barriers to romance and intimacy and build meaningful connections with others. As a lifelong learner, I enjoyed taking the dozens of classes over the course of four years to obtain my AASECT certification in sex therapy; I have trained in the Gottman Method levels 1 and 2; I have a certification to provide Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy; my home library is lined with exciting books about psychotherapy, human relationships and consciousness.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
When I meet a client for an initial session my focus is on getting to know my client, letting them get to know me and beginning to establish trust. I will ask you some questions and give you an opportunity to ask me anything. Though a therapist may have training and expertise, I don't believe the therapist to be an oracle but rather a fellow traveler in life's journey - my hope is that this philosophy will be apparent during an initial visit. *I offer free, 15-minute consultation video calls so we can ascertain whether we would be a good fit to work together.*
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
As a therapist some of my strengths include empathy and compassion, intelligence, authenticity and experience. I've had the opportunity to work in many different mental health and human service organizations throughout NYC and Rochester, NY. My strengths are most apparent when I am passionate about what I'm doing, and after many years working for non-profits, hospitals and schools I got excited to study sex therapy because it seemed to me to be a pleasure-focused intervention. Those studies got me curious about couples therapy, and I discovered other strengths that allowed me to excel in that practice. For example, the ability to hold with compassion two (or more!) seemingly opposite points of view, to reframe them non-judgmentally in a way that allows each partner to 1) *hear* what is being said 2) identify all of the ways they are already in alignment with their partner and 3) build motivation to see the partner's point of view 4) feel understood and safe enough to build solutions in areas of misalignment. When I work with an individual who wants to improve relationships, these couples therapy strengths apply.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I enjoy working with people who are active participants in the therapy process and are motivated to gain insight and/or make meaningful changes in their lives. I appreciate when clients are able to be self-reflective, and I thrive in a dynamic therapeutic environment in which the client feels comfortable to tell me what does and does not work for them, stylistically or otherwise, in therapy. I welcome diverse clients from all backgrounds and walks of life, and my training as a sex therapist has given me enhanced capacity to work with folks from the LGBT+ community and those in open or polyamorous relationship structures. I care deeply about human rights and social justice, making every effort to practice from a position of cultural humility. I have a special interest in working with people who have experienced religious trauma and/or are in the process of religious deconstruction.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
I have studied Sue Johnson's Emotionally Focused Therapy to help people improve their relationships from an attachment lens. In attachment-based therapy, we visit the past to conduct non-judgmental research into how we have come to relate with others and with our Selves. By developing insight into how the complex mix of family, social and environmental factors converge to create fear-based responses in relationships, we are able to make meaningful changes and conscious choices about how we show up in relationships. Implementing EFT into our relationships will help us to tackle problems with a "we" mentality - relationship problems are not "me against you," they are "us against the problem." With my training in EFT I can help you choose to end the negative patterns that keep you stuck and instead work together collaboratively with your partner to develop a Secure Base with each other.
Trauma-Focused CBT
I was trained in trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy in 2008 and have been implementing it in my practice ever since. TF-CBT involves elements such as psychoeducation about the impact of trauma on a one's psyche, functioning and relationships with self, others and the world; development of relaxation, mindfulness and affect regulation skills towards the ability to discuss details of the trauma with marked decreased in emotional distress; application of cognitive-behavioral techniques to identify how the trauma has changed one's thought process and beliefs about the trauma and about self, others and the world toward the goal of integrating more accurate and helpful ways of thinking and believing.
Sex Therapy
I am certified by the American Association for Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists as a Sex Therapist (CST). Sex therapy includes interventions for individuals and couples aimed at promoting a happy and healthy sex life, whether or not you are partnered. My experience providing sex therapy includes treatment for the following conditions: desire discrepancy in couples; low sex drive; ED, PE, vaginismus, vulvodynia, recovery from sexual trauma, erotic recovery and emotional healing after an affair, the development of a monogamy agreement for monogamous/monogamish partners, the development of a polyamorous agreement, out-of-control sexual behaviors and kink-affirming care.
Gottman method
I hold the first two levels of certification for the Gottman Method, which is a heavily researched, evidence-based approach to couples therapy focused on predictable and observable outcomes. We understand that relationship problems are not so much about the conflict but the way we handle conflict - how we speak, the words we choose, how well we demonstrate to our partner that we hold care and respect for them. When I practice within the Gottman method my clients report enjoying the solution-focused nature and the intervention's ease of application.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
I have training and experience in many additional evidence-based therapies, including but not limited to: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness-based approaches and the Imago Dialogue. After practicing for 17 years I have developed the ability to offer an eclectic approach to psychotherapy to allow for long- and short-term treatment. You may choose a longer-term therapeutic relationship for insight-oriented healing to include, for example, Narrative and Multicultural therapies - or you might choose a shorter-term relationship where we apply CBT, REBT or Imago with a strengths-based perspective to achieve fast, measurable results.