New to Grow
I am a licensed therapist with over ten years of experience specializing in the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders. My approach is grounded in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), integrating evidence-based strategies with supportive, strength-based interventions to help clients build practical coping skills and long-term resilience. I strive to create a collaborative, structured, and compassionate therapeutic environment where clients feel both supported and empowered to make meaningful change.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
In your first session, you can expect a structured but supportive conversation focused on understanding what brings you to therapy and what you hope to achieve. We will review your current concerns, relevant history, and any patterns related to anxiety, mood, stress, or life transitions. I will ask thoughtful, targeted questions to gain clinical clarity while ensuring you feel heard and understood. We will also begin identifying preliminary treatment goals and discussing how Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) may be used to address your concerns. I will explain how the therapy process works, what our sessions will typically look like, and what role you can expect to play in your own progress. By the end of the session, you should have a clearer understanding of your treatment direction, initial strategies to begin applying, and a collaborative plan for moving forward.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
What stands out about my therapeutic approach is the balance between structure and support. I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in a focused, goal-oriented way, helping clients clearly identify the thought patterns and behaviors that are maintaining anxiety or depression. Sessions are intentional and skill-based, with measurable objectives and practical tools that clients can apply in their daily lives. I also prioritize a strong therapeutic alliance. Clients often share that they feel both challenged and supported—validated in their experiences while also encouraged to step outside of avoidance patterns and limiting beliefs. Supportive interventions are integrated to promote emotional stabilization, particularly during periods of heightened stress, burnout, or life transitions. For clients who would like to incorporate their faith, I can thoughtfully integrate Christian principles into the therapeutic process. This may include exploring how spiritual beliefs influence coping, identity, forgiveness, or trust during difficult seasons. Faith integration is always client-directed and balanced with evidence-based clinical practice. Overall, my approach is designed not only to reduce symptoms, but to foster long-term resilience, clarity, and confidence—helping clients develop practical coping skills and a stronger sense of stability moving forward.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I am best positioned to serve individuals who are struggling with anxiety, chronic stress, and depressive symptoms—particularly those feeling overwhelmed by work demands, life transitions, or persistent negative thought patterns. I work well with clients who recognize that their thinking may be contributing to their distress and are motivated to develop practical, evidence-based tools to regain a sense of control and balance. I am especially effective with clients who appreciate a structured, goal-oriented approach to therapy and are open to learning and practicing new cognitive and behavioral strategies between sessions. Whether you are seeking relief from persistent worry, burnout, avoidance behaviors, or low mood, I provide a collaborative environment focused on measurable progress, skill development, and sustainable change.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Over the past ten years, I have consistently utilized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a primary treatment modality in my clinical work, and it has proven to be both reliable and empirically robust in addressing a broad spectrum of anxiety and depressive disorders. My approach is grounded in the core CBT framework—identifying maladaptive cognitions, evaluating cognitive distortions, and restructuring thought patterns to produce measurable behavioral and emotional change. In my experience, CBT is particularly effective because it offers clients a structured, skills-based model that fosters both insight and autonomy. I begin by helping clients develop awareness of the interaction between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Many individuals struggling with anxiety present with cognitive distortions such as catastrophizing, overgeneralization, mind-reading, or all-or-nothing thinking. Through guided discovery and Socratic questioning, I assist clients in examining the evidence for and against their automatic thoughts, allowing them to generate more balanced and adaptive interpretations. With anxiety disorders, I frequently integrate behavioral components such as exposure interventions and behavioral experiments. These strategies help clients test feared predictions in real-world contexts, reduce avoidance behaviors, and retrain conditioned fear responses. Over time, clients build distress tolerance and confidence in their ability to manage physiological arousal and uncertainty. In the treatment of depression, I emphasize behavioral activation in conjunction with cognitive restructuring. Many clients experiencing depressive symptoms exhibit withdrawal, reduced engagement in reinforcing activities, and negative core beliefs about self-worth and competence. By collaboratively developing activity schedules and targeting cognitive distortions related to hopelessness and self-criticism, clients often experience gradual improvements in mood, motivation, and overall functioning. One of the strengths of CBT in my clinical practice is its adaptability. I tailor interventions to each client’s cognitive style, cultural background, and presenting concerns while maintaining fidelity to evidence-based principles. Clients frequently report that they appreciate the practical, solution-focused nature of CBT, as it equips them with concrete tools they can continue to use independently beyond the therapy setting. Overall, my decade-long experience with CBT has reinforced my confidence in its effectiveness. It not only reduces symptom severity in anxiety and depression but also promotes long-term resilience by teaching clients how to become active participants in their own cognitive and emotional regulation.
Supportive
In addition to CBT, I intentionally integrate supportive therapy techniques to strengthen the therapeutic alliance and provide emotional stabilization, particularly during periods of heightened distress or life transitions. While CBT is structured and directive, supportive therapy allows space for validation, encouragement, and reinforcement of existing strengths. I view supportive interventions not as separate from CBT, but as complementary and clinically necessary in many cases. Supportive therapy in my work includes: Active listening and empathic validation to normalize emotional responses and reduce shame. Reinforcement of adaptive coping strategies already in place, helping clients recognize competence and resilience. Affect regulation support, especially when clients feel overwhelmed and are not yet ready for intensive cognitive restructuring. Strength-based reflection, highlighting growth, insight, and incremental progress. Psychoeducation to reduce uncertainty and increase a sense of control. For clients with significant anxiety, supportive therapy often precedes or runs parallel to exposure work. Establishing safety and trust enhances willingness to engage in challenging behavioral tasks. With depression, supportive interventions counteract feelings of isolation and hopelessness, helping maintain engagement in treatment while cognitive and behavioral strategies take effect. This integrative approach allows me to calibrate treatment intensity based on client readiness and symptom severity. CBT provides the structured skill-building framework necessary for long-term cognitive and behavioral change, while supportive therapy ensures emotional containment, alliance strengthening, and stabilization during vulnerable periods. Across a decade of practice, combining CBT with supportive therapy has consistently enhanced treatment adherence, reduced symptom severity, and fostered durable resilience. Clients leave not only with practical tools for managing anxiety and depression, but also with a strengthened sense of self-efficacy and emotional validation that supports continued growth beyond therapy.