LCSW, 16 years of experience
New to Grow
I have worked in counseling in TN for many years, and held my license since 2001. I am a native of Nashville. I love the outdoors, competitive sports, volunteering, all of the nature in our state, music, family, and building faith in life. I want each person I see to find hope, to feel encouraged/supported, and to realize that there is growth and solutions after each battle. Anyone brave enough to seek support, deserves to know that taking that first step...is the hardest part. I want to help as a teammate. I like to find strengths/solutions/coping strategies.
In our first session together, I want to learn more about you! I will ask you questions about yourself, your history, so that I can better understand your story. The first session is the chance to gather information...it is almost like the beginning. I want to do as much research I can in my questions at first, so that when I see you in later sessions, I have a better picture of what you are already doing that is working, or what challenges you have already faced. The first session is a chance to do preliminary learning about YOU! You are the focus and the first session helps me understand you better. I want you to feel that you can ask me questions too! I like to focus on what brought you here so that I can develop an effective plan for us to work towards in sessions.
I care about each person I connect with. I want to find out what they have had to face, so that I can help. I have worked in counseling for many years, and I think that there are specific solutions that can help build hope. Focusing on feelings and emotions are important, and also building towards a new way/path/perspective. I do not have the all the answers to your challenges, but I believe in the power of talking, and finding truth within you.
If you know that you are stuck at some obstacle in your life, but you have hope that you can overcome it, then I am the right counselor for you. I like to instill/foster more hope, encouragement, and solutions. I want you to succeed. I like to focus on the here and now, as well as finding future goals. Understanding the past helps, but aiming toward a goal helps to focus therapy and clarity.
I believe that anyone seeking therapy deserves to be heard, validated, and appreciated for the battle that they are facing. As a counselor, I look for the qualities and strengths that each person already has access to, and I work to encourage each person to bravely seek their own unique path to finding a solution. I encourage, empathize, and listen. I want each person I see to know that I care.
When someone is confiding in me about what they are facing, I am looking for strengths that they have already been using...and I try and build on those strengths.
I believe that I can best focus therapy by keying on solutions to problems that are keeping a client stuck. Incorporating the miracle question into therapy and helping clients use scaling, exceptions to the problems, and even finding their own achievements improves someone's outlook and perspective. The miracle question can also be a part of someone's own faith in a higher power or a hope for a better tomorrow.
The way clients see how their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are intertwined, helps them understand that they can change. As a counselor, I think that the internal monologue, what we say to ourselves, plays a big part in how we interpret events and find solutions. Behaviors are learned and can be unlearned. Finding solutions can involve challenging unwanted thoughts, cognitive distortions, and even instilling positive self-talk towards new goals.
I have experience in hospice care as well as helping people overcome losses---death/grief/relationship/life transitions.