LPC, 12 years of experience
Therapy is a gift that you give to yourself. You allow yourself the time and space to sort through issues and challenges. You are brave enough to try new things, be honest with yourself, and deepen your understanding of yourself. As your therapist, it is my privilege to travel the path with you, helping you to create it and to guide you as you go. I view people through a healthy strivings lens. This means that I look for the healthy motivations that underlie even the most unhealthy behaviors, and I always find them. We then will work with those healthy strivings to find healthier and happier ways to live. In therapy, I will learn about you first, then help you to create goals that are important to you. I will listen to you and reflect back to you the answers that you already have inside yourself. I will support you and empower you to become the person you want to be.
In the first session, I interview you to learn about you and what you'd like to work on. We often begin to find answers in the first session. We will decide if you would like time-limited therapy (4-6 sessions), or if you would like longer-term support. You should feel understood and hopeful after our first session. Once we create a goal, I will always make sure to keep that goal in the back of my mind during our sessions so that you may feel free to bring up whatever is important for you on that day but we will not lose our focus.
I have a phenomenological approach to counseling which means that I seek to understand and illuminate your perspective of the world so that you can undergo a process of self-discovery. My approach is client-centered, based on a lot of dialogue, and empowers you to seek your own answers. I am trained in trauma-informed care and have experience working with adults from many backgrounds.
Because I work from a wellness model, I see my clients from a healthy perspective rather than focusing on sickness. I use my understanding of theory from DBT, trauma-informed care, and a wide range of psychological theories to create a custom experience of therapy with each client.