LCSW, 14 years of experience
New to Grow
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 15 years of experience. I have worked with clients with a wide range of concerns and personal goals. My counseling style is eclectic, engaging and interactive. I believe that every person deserves to have someone that they can talk with, gain insight from and connect with that will not interfere with their daily living. I like to create personal and professional goals with individuals based on their interests, opinions, and skills not based on other people's opinions of them. I often will use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Rational Emotive Therapy with a humanistic and solution focused approach.
In our first session, we will get to know one another. This is the beginning of our therapeutic relationship and we will make a decision together about how we will move forward. I know that finding a therapist who you feel connected to can be a challenge and the first few sessions is when we ay make a decision of the connection I will provide resources (books, podcasts, tools) as indicated and will assist in desired referrals if that is what is decided. Everyone benefits from being able to have a coach, a therapist, someone on their side. I would love to be able to work with you and assist you in being the best version of yourself.
My greatest strengths are that i am compassionate, understanding, and able to curate my approach with each client I work with. I believe that therapy is a therapeutic exchange; Every client I have worked with, I have learned been able to learn more about life and how to create the life we want.
I enjoy being able to work with people who are desiring to identify their purpose, build their self esteem and confidence, and learn more about themselves throughout the process.
During the 14 years as a therapist, CBT has been a game changer for me and my clients by assisting people to recognize the impact their thoughts have on their feelings, behaviors and relationships. After this recognition, I have worked with clients to empower them in understanding the control they can take of their thoughts to be able to be present at work, in relationships, with family and with themselves the way they want to.
Learning REBT in school was when I found my love of therapy. I have been using it along with CBT throughout my career as a therapist. I think many people live with a "should" mindset, placing blame and shame on each other. I believe should is reserved for the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. The only things that we should be doing is eating, sleeping, and pooing. Everything else is optional and I enjoy empowering people to really explore the things they want to do in their life and the reason they want to do them to create a life they can look back with a sense of pride about.
I think compassion is one of the most important aspects of providing therapy. Everyone has a story and everyone deserves to be understood and supported in the life they are building for themselves. In my practice I strive to support my clients in the decisions they make without placing my own expectations. There are so many ways that we all can live our lives and I want to honor the many ways we are able to live. One of my favorite quotes about life is from Fred Rogers: "The greatest loss that we all have to deal with is the loss of the image of ourselves as a perfect person." I provide compassion because I know that engaging in therapy can mean looking at aspects of ourselves that we my not like and that may bring about the stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.)
I include mindfulnes in my practice because it is an imortant aspect in bing able t be aware of our thoughts. I encourage my clients to use living kindness meditation and will often lead a meditation in session especially when a client enters session feeing increased anxiety.