Tired of reading bios? I would be too, so I'll keep it short: I graduated from UPenn 10+ years ago with a Master's in Social Work. I have experience working in almost every setting you could imagine. I specialize in making people feel comfortable, safe, and validated. I specialize in treating my clients like they matter, are important & are worthy, no matter what they look like, sound like, or "seem" like. I'm also an expert in being a real human being and not a robot with automated responses who will "mhmm" you to death. My "approach" is understanding that I can't expect you to expose the deepest, darkest, most vulnerable parts of yourself to me if I remain a complete stranger to you. In our sessions, I want you to feel like you're with one of your best friends who you can trust, laugh and ugly-cry with. My only goal is to make you feel like you're not alone. Like you have someone in your corner who will fight for you, laugh with you, curse with you, and ugly-cry with you (I'm totally kidding, kinda, that part's negotiable).
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
Our first session together can be guided by you! We can start with brief introductions (I promise I won't make you play an *icebreaker* game), we can talk about the latest gossip going around your workplace cafeteria, we can talk about this week's episode of your favorite show, you can tell me the very cringey story about what Aunt Sally did at Thanksgiving dinner 4 years ago OR we can hop right into why you feel like your ex partner should go kick rocks with open-toed sandals on - it's totally up to you! I want you to feel like you're ultimately in control of your own therapy process (because you actually are, but it's not as scary as it sounds). I don't need (or want) to be that really mean coach from 3rd grade who blew their whistle until they were red in the face and screamed at you to do 300 push ups so loud they popped a blood vessel. Instead, I want you to feel like I'm your teammate helping to guide you and hype you up while you learn how to hype yourself up (because that's what you should be doing)!
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
- Not judging you for thoughts/actions/questions/statements that "society" will judge you for - Making you feel comfortable enough to be your real, authentic self with me by letting you see that I'm literally just a human like you and NOT one of the stuck-up cardigan-wearing tissue-pushing robots that are on TV and in movies (if you see me wearing a cardigan, no you didn't) - NOT pretending like I know it all or have all the answers, because I absolutely don't and I will gladly tell you when I don't