I'm a daughter, wife, mother and entrepreneur. I have two young children and a devoted husband of 13 years. I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 22 years post masters experience working in a variety of treatment settings or levels of care from inpatient psychiatric hospitals to employee assistance programs. I have also worked with a variety of clients spanning the entire life spectrum and with a variety of issues.
During our first session, I will focus my attention on your need for therapy and the goals that you would like to accomplish. I will ask a lot of questions to explore your circumstance and to see how I can best help you. You will get to know me in the process and I will get to know you. I would say this session, I will have an agenda in that I would like to complete a full assessment of your biological and social history as well complete a treatment plan. In future sessions I will have less of an agenda, in that I usually follow my client's lead on what they feel they need the most at the time.
I'm reliable - I will always show up at the time scheduled and will not cancel sessions. I'm trustworthy - I am usually able to develop a trusting relationship with my clients so that they feel comfortable opening up about things they usually don't share with anyone. I'm resourceful - I always have something to share via email after our sessions for you to work on between sessions.
I enjoy the variety of my practice; however, my favorite clients are children, adolescents and their families. I enjoy providing family therapy as the family system is affected when more than one member of the family is involved in therapy - the greatest amount of change can occur and remain long after I'm in your life. I also have a niche in working with perinatal and infant loss, grief and loss, complex grief and trauma. I thought I understood grief and loss as a therapist until I had a personal experience of losing my first daughter to stillbirth. In honor of my deceased daughter, Chloe, I now have the honor of walking along side of others through the most difficult journey that I have ever experienced.
I use a Rogerian or unconditional, positive regard, person-centered and strengths-based approach to therapy. I have been practicing 22 years post-masters degree. And definitely employ many different skill based approaches to therapy depending on the person and issue being treated, such as CBT, DBT, and ACT.