New to Grow
Welcome! Whether you're looking to try therapy for the first time, exploring if therapy is the right fit for you or looking to find a new therapist, it can be overwhelming to look for someone who feels like the right fit for you. My hope is that therapy can be a place where you show up as you are and that together, we’ll work to help you build the skills and insight you need to move toward the version of yourself you want to be. I hold a Master’s degree in Social Work. Before becoming a psychotherapist, I spent over five years working in adoption as a birth parent social worker, an experience that continues to inform my passion for supporting anyone whose life story includes adoption. I also have experience in case management, group therapy, the relationship between mental health and addiction, and spent my Master’s level internship working in a cancer-care center.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
The first therapy session can feel overwhelming and uncertain, but please know that we will take time to address any concerns you have about starting therapy together. In our first session, I will walk you through what you can expect it to be like working together. I will first take time to hear your story, concerns, and hopes for what you want to accomplish in therapy. If you have never had a mental health diagnosis before, we will take time to discuss the symptoms you are experiencing to give you an accurate diagnosis, if necessary and appropriate.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
My approach is gentle, compassionate, and collaborative, while still offering meaningful challenges to the thoughts and beliefs that may no longer be serving you. I love to incorporate humor into my therapy work as well. My goal is not to rush you in your mental health journey, so I do strive to create a space that feels comfortable, while still working in what we consider, "the growth zone". My therapy work is very much driven by feedback from my clients. If you feel we are moving too quickly, please tell me. If something I said isn't sitting right with you, let's talk about it! I try to create an environment where you can bring up your concerns and I will hear them. There is no "one size fits all" approach to therapy, therefore I truly want our work together to be tailored to your specific needs.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I currently work with adults (18+) and specialize in adoption-related experiences, adjustment to medical diagnoses, maintaining sobriety, life transitions, family relationships, boundary setting, stress management, anxiety, depression, and faith and spirituality.
Person-centered (Rogerian)
I believe each person already carries many of the tools necessary for growth—you may simply benefit from having someone to reflect, offer new perspectives, teach additional skills, and help point out what may have gone unnoticed. I strive to have each therapy session be focused on the topics you want to work on and discuss, striving to create a non-judgmental space that allows for self-exploration.
Christian Counseling
If the Christian faith is part of your values system, I am happy to incorporate that into our work together. Having a faith system and/or believing in a higher power can give a person a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life, which can help to anchor us when life isn't going as expected. If you would like Christian counseling incorporated into your therapy work, I seek to reference Biblical foundations and truth into our work together. I welcome all denominations and using a person-centered approach, as mentioned above, will help you explore how your Christian faith impacts your mental health journey.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Although not every problem can be solved by changing thinking patterns, it can be a good place to start. So often, we don't realize the unconscious thoughts that directly influence our behaviors and beliefs about ourselves. I seek to help you understand these underlying narratives you have and will help you parse through them to discover which of the beliefs are true and benefit you, and which ones don't hold the same weight that you may have thought and are no longer serving you.
Strength-Based
Navigating through life is not always easy, yet you have done it every day so far. You've likely encountered many challenges along the way, which have given you tools you may not even recognize you learned along the way. With a strengths-based perspective, we will use the ways you've overcome challenges in the past and help you apply those to challenges you may be facing currently.
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational interviewing is a technique in which you and I will work together to come to a conclusion or decision that seems to be the best one for you, based on the information we have to work with. I will ask you questions about a situation to help you think about it from as many angles as we can think of. I will not give you advice or tell you what to do, but rather will use this method to help you analyze your decisions thoroughly to help you make the most informed decision that you can.