(she/her)
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 12 years of experience providing clinical services to adult individuals experiencing a variety of ailments such as anxiety, depression , substance abuse/addiction Trauma and PTSD, to name a few. I have worked in outpatient, inpatient, public and private sectors as a therapist and clinical supervisor to other therapists. I graduated from SDSU in 2014 with a Masters in Clinical Social Work with an emphasis in mental health.
In our first session together we'll start with introductions and assessment taking to get a sense of your prominent needs. We will form a treatment plan based on your unique goals and strengths in order to come to an agreement for the treatment process going forward.
While I am honored to be a part of your journey, my goal is to help teach you the skills you need to live a balanced and full life without me! This means I offer tangible methods that you can practice on your own until these methods become second nature. I use a supportive approach to collaborate on your treatment, and guide you into the best version of yourself.
I love working with young to middle age professionals who are navigating trauma that disguises itself as depression and anxiety. My clients are eager to learn but don't yet have the skills to cope with their symptoms.
Trauma Informed Care
Trauma informed care means realizing the widespread impact of trauma and helps us to understand paths for recovery. The trauma informed approach helps us recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma, and integrate knowledge about trauma into treatment to help actively avoid re-traumatization. This approach helps clients reduce and manage negative reactions to trauma triggers.
EMDR
Our brains have a natural way to recover from traumatic memories and events. While many times traumatic experiences can be managed and resolved spontaneously, sometimes. they may not be processed without help. Stress responses are part of our natural fight, flight, or freeze instincts. When distress from a disturbing event remains, the upsetting images, thoughts, and emotions may create an overwhelming feeling of being back in that moment, or of being “frozen in time.” EMDR therapy helps the brain process these memories, and allows normal healing to resume. The experience is still remembered, but the fight, flight, or freeze response from the original event is resolved.