LPC, 15 years of experience
Frequently rebooked
Hi there, my name is Emily and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in CT and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) in IL who works with adolescents and adults using a variety of theoretical perspectives in individual, family and group therapy sessions. I have over twelve years of clinical experience in a variety of environments including outpatient, inpatient, community, and in-home settings. I specialize in working with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and clients of all ages who have experienced varying types of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. This experience has helped to expand my clinical areas of expertise such as stress and anxiety reduction, management of depressive and mood symptoms, harm reduction and substance abuse, and symptoms/risk behaviors associated with personality and attachment disorders. Additionally, I have worked within the foster care system providing both individual and family therapy services to children, adolescents, and guardians. I incorporate an array of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and solution-focused interventions into my treatment approach. In my extensive work with anxiety disorders and effects of trauma, I have frequently utilized DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) techniques, ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), and other interventions which focus on the psychosomatic manifestation of mental suffering in the body. I am motivated to help clients integrate past experiences into their current identity to increase insight in such a way as to make progress toward personal goals.
I aim to create a warm, safe, and attentive space for my clients to feel seen and heard fully. You can expect an experience where you are given opportunities to explore your inner world, feelings, thoughts, beliefs, values, and goals. This will evolve through the first few sessions as we get to know one another. My framework is grounded in a client-centered approach and centers on the strengths, resilience, expertise, and self-determination of those whom I work with.
I'm devoted to developing trust and safety in the therapeutic relationship and will meet my clients wherever they presently sit on the continuum of identity development, embodiment, and self-acceptance. I will support and challenge my clients as they find new ways to access their inner world & to approach their lives and the systems around them. I am deeply devoted to the empowerment of my clients and believe that therapy can be transformational once safety and trust is developed.
My clients would describe me as versatile, accountable, compassionate, and particularly attuned to facilitating a comfortable atmosphere for those of an introverted nature.
CBT will help you learn how to stop unwanted thoughts and decrease your anxiety with its focus on the connections between thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physiological responses. CBT techniques helpt you to identify negative thought patterns and develop a habit of challenging these by considering contrary evidence as well as work to replace unhealthy core beliefs with new and emerging positive self-talk.
The goal of DBT therapy is to improve your emotional regulation, interpersonal skills, and overall quality of life. Coping skills such as distraction techniques, self-soothing activities, and radical acceptance are taught to help clients manage crisis effectively. Emotional regulation tools include identifying and labeling emotions, increasing positive emotional experiences, decreasing emotional vulnerability, and practicing opposite action. Interpersonal effectiveness skills such as appropriate assertiveness, negotiation, and conflict-resolution techniques are taught and practiced in order to develop and maintain healthy relationships.
ACT utilizes acceptance, mindfulness, commitment, and behavioral strategies to improve a client's flexibility in response to life’s challenges. I have experience incorporating a wide range of techniques to help clients establish a sense of self, be present in each moment, and choose values and commit to implementing them. Clients benefit most from learning to reduce the impact and influence of unwanted thoughts and feelings through the effective use of mindfulness. They learn of their ability to stop fighting with their private experiences—to open up to them, make room for them, and allow them to come and go without a struggle.