New to Grow
I am a warm, creative, and open-minded clinician dedicated to helping individuals heal from trauma, sexual abuse, and adverse childhood experiences. My approach is compassionate, collaborative, and grounded in evidence-based care, with a focus on creating a safe space where clients feel seen, respected, and empowered. I especially enjoy working with marginalized communities and supporting women in reclaiming their voice, strength, and sense of self. In addition to trauma-focused work, I have experience providing solution-focused therapy within medical settings, working with clients across a wide range of ages, backgrounds, and clinical presentations. Together, we work toward healing, emotional resilience, and meaningful personal growth.
The first session is focused on getting to know you as a person—understanding your goals, hopes, strengths, and what has brought you to therapy at this point in your life. We may also discuss any previous experiences with therapy and what has or has not felt helpful in the past. Initial assessments can help me better understand the severity and impact of symptoms you may be experiencing, while allowing us to collaboratively identify areas of focus for treatment. I approach this process with sensitivity and care, especially when trauma, abuse, or painful life experiences are involved, and I never expect clients to share deeply personal details before they feel safe, ready, and supported enough to do so.
I bring a broad understanding of the justice system, with experience in child welfare, foster care, childhood trauma, and supporting survivors through complex and often painful life circumstances. Over the years, I have worked with individuals from many different backgrounds and presentations, while continuing to deepen my training across multiple therapeutic models and approaches. One of my greatest strengths as a clinician is the ability to integrate the knowledge, perspective, and compassion gained from my previous careers into the work I do today, allowing me to support clients with both clinical skill and real-world understanding.
My ideal client is someone who has experienced trauma, abuse, discrimination, or chronic invalidation as a result of being part of a marginalized or underrepresented community. This may include individuals navigating systemic oppression, racial or cultural trauma, identity-based stigma, family rejection, intimate partner violence, or complex interpersonal trauma. I am especially well positioned to support clients who often feel unseen, misunderstood, or emotionally exhausted from having to survive environments that have not fully affirmed their identity or lived experience. Together, we would focus on creating a safe, collaborative, and culturally responsive therapeutic space where healing, empowerment, emotional regulation, self-understanding, and reclaiming a sense of agency and self-worth can occur.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured psychotherapy primarily used to treat trauma-related conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by helping the brain reprocess distressing memories so they become less emotionally and physiologically overwhelming. During EMDR, the client recalls traumatic experiences while engaging in bilateral stimulation—typically guided eye movements, tapping, or alternating sounds—which appears to facilitate adaptive information processing. Treatment follows eight phases: history taking, preparation and stabilization, assessment of traumatic memories and beliefs, desensitization through bilateral stimulation, installation of healthier beliefs, body scanning for residual somatic distress, session closure, and reevaluation. EMDR targets the interaction between emotion, cognition, and physiological arousal, reflecting evidence that emotions involve both bodily responses and interpretive meaning-making. It is especially effective for trauma, abuse, combat exposure, panic, grief, and anxiety disorders, and is considered an evidence-based treatment for PTSD within trauma- and stressor-related disorders described in the DSM-5.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a mindfulness- and values-based form of cognitive behavioral therapy that aims to increase psychological flexibility—the ability to remain present, open to internal experiences, and committed to meaningful action despite distress. Rather than trying to eliminate painful thoughts or emotions, ACT teaches individuals to accept them without excessive avoidance or struggle while changing their relationship to them through mindfulness and cognitive defusion techniques. The model centers on six core processes: acceptance, cognitive defusion, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action. ACT assumes that psychological suffering is often maintained by experiential avoidance and rigid attachment to thoughts, and treatment focuses on helping individuals live consistently with their values even in the presence of anxiety, trauma, depression, or difficult emotions. ACT is widely applied to conditions including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, chronic pain, substance use, and stress-related difficulties.
Motivational Interviewing
Motational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, client-centered counseling approach designed to strengthen a person’s internal motivation and commitment to change. Rather than confronting resistance directly, the therapist uses empathy, reflective listening, and strategic questioning to help clients explore ambivalence and identify their own reasons for change. MI is guided by four core processes—engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning—and emphasizes autonomy, compassion, and self-efficacy. Common techniques include open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective statements, and summaries (often abbreviated as OARS). MI is widely used in treating substance use disorders, health behavior change, medication adherence, and other situations where individuals feel conflicted about changing behaviors.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy that focuses on identifying and changing maladaptive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. CBT is based on the idea that distorted thinking patterns influence emotional distress and problematic behavior, and that modifying these patterns can improve mood and functioning. Treatment typically involves cognitive restructuring, behavioral experiments, exposure techniques, and skills training, and is widely used for conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and insomnia.
Trauma-Focused CBT
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a specialized form of CBT designed to help children, adolescents, and caregivers process and recover from trauma such as abuse, violence, grief, or neglect. TF-CBT combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with trauma-sensitive interventions including psychoeducation, emotional regulation skills, gradual trauma narration and processing, cognitive restructuring, and caregiver involvement. The goal is to reduce trauma-related symptoms, improve coping and emotional regulation, and help the individual develop a healthier understanding of the traumatic experience.