Licensed to practice in Texas and accepts 9 insurances. Specializes in Trauma and PTSD, Obsessive-Compulsive (OCD), Anxiety and 10 more.
New to Grow
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker Supervisor with more than 25 years of experience supporting children, adolescents, adults, and families. My professional background includes private practice, school-based mental health services, residential treatment, chemical dependency counseling, hospice, and home health. These experiences have strengthened my ability to help clients navigate anxiety, trauma, grief, behavioral concerns, family stress, major life transitions, and other complex challenges. For the past six years, I have worked in public school settings, primarily supporting students receiving special education services. In this role, I helped children, families, and school teams better understand the “why” behind behavior, develop effective coping strategies, improve emotional regulation, and create practical supports that can be used at school, at home, and in the community. I have experience working with clients experiencing anxiety, ADHD, OCD, selective mutism, trauma-related concerns, depression, emotional dysregulation, self-harm behaviors, and behavioral challenges. I also understand the stress that parents and caregivers may experience while trying to support a child with emotional, behavioral, or developmental needs. My approach is collaborative, strengths-based, and practical. I work to create a supportive environment where clients feel heard, respected, and understood. Together, we identify patterns, build useful coping and communication skills, and develop realistic strategies that support meaningful and lasting change.
During our first session, the main goal is for us to begin getting to know one another and help you feel comfortable with the therapy process. I am very laid back, and I want counseling to feel like a place where you can be yourself without worrying about saying the “right” thing. You do not need to have everything figured out before you come in, and there is no pressure to share more than you are ready to discuss. We will spend time talking about what brought you to therapy, what has been happening in your life, and what you would like to be different. I will also complete an initial assessment to better understand your concerns, personal and family history, relationships, strengths, current supports, and any challenges that may be affecting your daily life. Although I will ask questions to help guide the conversation, the session is not meant to feel like an interrogation or a checklist. We will move at a comfortable pace and make room for the things that feel most important to you. Together, we will begin identifying patterns, stressors, or barriers that may be getting in the way. We will also discuss your goals for counseling and develop a treatment plan that feels realistic, meaningful, and specific to your needs. Therapy is a collaborative process, so your input matters throughout every step. You can expect a calm, supportive, and judgment-free environment. While counseling can involve difficult emotions and challenging conversations, I believe therapy should also feel safe, like an office where you can exhale, feel understood, and hopefully even look forward to coming. My goal is for us to build a trusting relationship while working together toward meaningful and lasting change.
One of the greatest strengths I bring to therapy is the breadth of my experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families in private practice, public schools, special education, residential treatment, chemical dependency services, hospice, and home health. These experiences have taught me that mental health concerns are often connected to family relationships, school or work demands, grief, trauma, health concerns, and major life transitions. My work in special education has strongly shaped my approach. For the past six years, I have supported students with emotional, behavioral, developmental, and mental health needs. I have provided counseling, participated in evaluations and educational planning, collaborated with families and school teams, and helped develop practical behavioral and emotional supports. My doctoral work focused on trauma-informed care and strategies for students who struggle behaviorally, strengthening my ability to understand how trauma, chronic stress, attachment experiences, and nervous system responses can affect behavior, learning, relationships, and emotional regulation. I am especially skilled at helping clients and families understand behaviors that may initially appear confusing, defiant, avoidant, or overwhelming. Rather than simply labeling behavior as “bad,” I help clients explore what may be happening underneath it while also developing clear expectations, healthy boundaries, accountability, and realistic plans for change. I also bring extensive experience supporting individuals and families through grief, loss, substance use concerns, family conflict, safety concerns, and high-stress transitions. My hospice and home health work taught me the importance of meeting people where they are and respecting the different ways people cope with change and loss. My chemical dependency and residential treatment experience strengthened my ability to work with complex family systems, crisis situations, relapse patterns, and adolescents experiencing significant emotional or behavioral challenges. Clients can expect me to be laid back, approachable, and genuine. I want therapy to feel comfortable and collaborative rather than overly formal or intimidating. I use humor when appropriate, communicate in a straightforward way, and encourage clients to be themselves. You do not need to arrive with the perfect words or know exactly what you need. My therapeutic style is strengths-based, trauma-informed, practical, and individualized. I use cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused approaches, motivational interviewing, systems theory, and other evidence-based strategies, adapting them to each client’s age, personality, needs, goals, and learning style. With children and adolescents, I may use activities, visuals, games, role-play, and skill-building exercises to make counseling engaging and meaningful. I also collaborate with parents and caregivers when appropriate to reinforce skills and create consistent support across home, school, and community settings. With adults, I provide a supportive space to examine patterns, relationships, stressors, and past experiences while connecting insight with practical action. Above all, I bring compassion, honesty, experience, and a belief that people are more than their diagnoses, behaviors, or hardest moments. My goal is to help clients feel seen and respected while building the understanding, confidence, and skills needed to make meaningful changes.
My ideal client is someone who may feel overwhelmed, stuck, misunderstood, or unsure of how to make things better but is willing to begin exploring what is happening beneath the surface. I work well with children, adolescents, adults, and families who are experiencing anxiety, trauma-related concerns, ADHD, OCD, grief, depression, emotional dysregulation, behavioral challenges, family conflict, parenting stress, or major life transitions. I am especially drawn to working with children and teens whose behavior may be viewed as defiant, avoidant, impulsive, or difficult to understand. I help clients and families look beyond the behavior, identify triggers and unmet needs, and develop practical skills for emotional regulation, communication, coping, and problem-solving. I also enjoy supporting parents and caregivers who want to better understand their child, reduce conflict, establish healthy boundaries, and create more consistent support at home and school. My ideal adult client may be navigating stress, grief, trauma, relationship difficulties, parenting concerns, or patterns that no longer feel helpful. They may want a therapist who is approachable, honest, nonjudgmental, and focused on both understanding the problem and identifying realistic next steps. Clients do not need to arrive knowing exactly what they want from therapy. They only need a willingness to be open, work collaboratively, and take small steps toward change. My goal is to help each client feel understood, recognize their strengths, build useful skills, and move toward a life that feels more manageable, meaningful, and hopeful.
I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients understand how their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors influence one another. Together, we identify unhelpful thinking patterns, explore how those thoughts affect emotional reactions and choices, and develop more balanced and useful ways of responding. I also use CBT to teach practical coping, problem-solving, emotional regulation, and communication skills that clients can apply outside of sessions. With children and adolescents, I adapt CBT concepts through visuals, games, role-play, and age-appropriate activities.
Trauma-informed care is integrated throughout my practice rather than being limited to one specific technique. I consider how trauma, chronic stress, attachment experiences, and nervous-system responses may affect a client’s behavior, emotions, relationships, and sense of safety. My doctoral work focused on trauma-informed care and strategies for supporting students who struggle behaviorally. I emphasize emotional and physical safety, collaboration, choice, trust, and empowerment while helping clients understand their responses without shame. Treatment is paced according to the client’s readiness, strengths, and individual needs.
I use a strengths-based approach to help clients recognize the abilities, resources, relationships, and past successes they already possess. While therapy addresses challenges, I do not want clients to feel defined by a diagnosis, difficult behavior, or painful experience. We identify what has helped them cope in the past and build on those strengths to develop confidence, resilience, and practical strategies for change. This approach is especially helpful for clients who feel discouraged, ashamed, or overwhelmed by their current circumstances.
I use Solution-Focused Brief Therapy to help clients identify what they want to be different and determine manageable steps toward that change. We explore times when the problem has been less intense, identify strategies that are already working, and build on the client’s existing strengths and resources. This approach helps keep therapy practical, collaborative, and goal-oriented while recognizing that progress may occur through small, meaningful changes.
I use a person-centered approach to create a genuine, accepting, and nonjudgmental therapeutic relationship. I want clients to feel heard, respected, and comfortable being themselves, even when discussing difficult experiences or choices. Rather than assuming that one approach will work for everyone, I listen carefully to each client’s needs, values, culture, personality, and goals. Treatment is collaborative, and clients have an active voice in the direction and pace of therapy.