New to Grow
Life can feel overwhelming when your relationships are strained, or your emotions feel like they’re in the driver’s seat. Whether you’re navigating the heavy echoes of trauma—such as sexual abuse or medical hurdles—or find yourself retreating into video games, pornography, or substances to cope, you don’t have to carry that weight alone. Together, we’ll move beyond just 'getting by.' We will set practical goals to dismantle the obstacles in your way, helping you regain control and build a life that feels authentic and grounded. I use a person-centered approach and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skills to support you in addressing your concerns and achieving your goals. My experience includes helping clients process trauma and navigate other life challenges. Combining these methods can be effective for trauma recovery and broader personal growth. Throughout our collaboration, we will emphasize the validation of emotions and the process of engaging with and understanding difficult feelings. Although this process may occasionally feel overwhelming, through active listening and compassion, we will strive together to achieve your treatment plan goals.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
In our first session, we will meet to discuss what you are looking for, how I can help you achieve your goals, and what skills do or do not work for you. If you have never had therapy before, we will discuss what the skills will look like, how often you should plan on using them, and answer any other questions that you may have on the process. Another thing that you can expect from the first session is possibly exploring homework, planning on maintaining a journal, and looking at the importance of validating your feelings and how to feel validated by others so that you know who is a good support to have in your corner between sessions.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
One of the things that stands out about my therapeutic approach as compared to others is that I believe in being able to set a comfortable atmosphere for my clients and to allow you to feel relax as you share about some of the biggest issues that you may be facing . I will validate, challenge, and encourage you throughout our sessions and help to encourage a new way of looking at problems so that you will be able to look at new ways of reframing your issues to make them easier to handle or challenge.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
When asked how best to help someone with their problems, I find it most enjoyable to work with the clients that I enjoy working with the most. I would have to say that the clients I like working with the most are clients who are not sure where to start, but are motivated to make a difference. I have worked with couples who are trying to work through infertility, difficulty adjusting to medical concerns, or a mental health diagnosis that could use added support. I also enjoy working with first responders who need to process their trauma and survivors of crimes who are ready for a change.
Humanistic
With the humanistic approach to counseling, clients are able to be seen as an entire person, and together we work on being able to challenge the thoughts that one may be having about themselves and reshape how they see themselves.
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Through the use of various skills, we look at ways of challenging the negative views that we have about ourselves by looking at new ways of handling concerns as they arise. This may include the use of humor and exploring how emotions can lead to behaviors that we don't typically want to engage in and how to stop them.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
When using DBT, it is a very skills-heavy approach to dealing with problems as they arise. While in session, we will look at skills such as GIVE, DEAR MAN, and Coping Ahead to help deal with life's problems and to look at being able to help with emotional regulation and how to have better conversations and interactions with others.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
CBT is a therapy style in which we look at challenging negative thoughts and explore the causes behind them. Do you tend to catastrophize problems, but you're not sure why? CBT will allow us to look at your negative thoughts and learn new ways of challenging them and, with continued practice, look at reducing how many times these thoughts will arise.