LCSW, 20 years of experience
Hi! I'm Janet, an LCSW with extensive experience working with children, adolescents, families and adults. I also have taught elementary education (Pre-K to Grade 8) in CT and NYC. My passion has always been working with children, adolescents and families. I also enjoy working with young adults and adults. In the past, I have worked in a domestic violence shelter and outreach center outside of Boston, the CT Birth to Three program, intensive in-home psychiatric programs, outpatient clinics and as a school clinician at a therapeutic high school. Additionally, I have experience working in the foster care systems in CT and NYC. I have weeknight and weekend availability to meet the needs of my clients' busy schedules. Follow my professional instagram @heart_mind_soul_connection Please note- I adhere to the Grow Therapy policy of a fee for cancellations with less than 24 hours notice and no show appointments.
In your first session, you can expect to answer basic questions and have an opportunity to ask me questions as well. I am open to understanding helpful or unhelpful interventions that you have utilized in the past. Collaborating with you to determine your goals and working together and to support you from the first session to the end of treatment are a huge part of my approach. If you have a child or adolescent, I like to split time during the intake session to meet with the child or adolescent, meet with the caregiver, and then meet together to determine treatment goals. If you are new to therapy, my goal is to help you feel safe and understand that therapy does not have to be a super painful process all the time!
My passion and dedication to my clients are evident in my interactions and timely responses to messages. I am a highly committed professional who provides a safe, non-judgmental, and caring yet direct approach in working with clients. My style is warm and direct with splashes of humor. I am down to earth and practical and I don't use lots of "trendy lingo" that can be confusing for some clients. Practical suggestions and solutions are my specialty! I practice skills with clients during sessions so that clients can use them independently. If something is not working during sessions, please let me know! I am here to collaborate with you and I tailor my focus to each individual. I also encourage my clients to reach out of there is not a time on my schedule that works for them and I will do my best to accommodate other requests as I understand that life can be very busy!
Using strengths based interventions and mindfulness, developing healthy coping skills, and incorporating solution focused and supportive therapy in addition to CBT and DBT interventions, my goal is to guide clients to move forward in overcoming challenges and celebrating successes. Continuing to build trust and communication amongst family members is one of my passions as well as working with clients to recognize and build upon their strengths. **Please note that I do not work with clients who experience self-harm or suicidal ideation on this platform and I also do not work with clients who are court ordered. Many of the children and adolescents I work with experience bullying, difficulty advocating for their needs and feel unheard, difficulty setting and/or respecting boundaries, challenges in school (academic, peer related or behavioral), negative self-image, peer pressure, lack of confidence, anxiety, depression, sensory or high-energy needs, difficulty focusing, difficulty sleeping, body image concerns, increased family tension or challenges with separated parents, communication struggles or social difficulties, trauma, sibling tension, difficulty naming/processing emotions and utilizing coping skills and much more. I understand that caregivers can be hesitant to utilize tele-health for children or young adolescents and my priority is building rapport and trust so that clients can feel heard, seen and valued in order to address therapeutic concerns. I have many clients who like to draw/color, build legos, utilize fidgets, etc. while talking which usually helps reduce their anxiety of feeling "on screen" for the session. I am very flexible as long as clients are willing to engage in the session. I enjoy partnering with caregivers to ensure that there is a physical space for clients to feel at ease during sessions in addition to keeping caregivers involved in treatment strategies and interventions. I also encourage clients to share hobbies and interests and things they are excited about that aren't necessarily therapy related to build connection. Many of the adults that I work with have busy schedules that lend to less time for self-care, experience communication difficulties, parenting or co-parenting struggles, anxiety, depression, OCD, trauma, life or career transitions, general or job related stress, relationship struggles, and much more. Many of my clients have begun or returned to therapy as an adult desiring to process situations that occurred during their younger years to reflect upon their current functioning or relationship dynamics or are starting or returning to therapy due to work through current stressors.
In my sessions, I incorporate and build upon client strengths in order to empower clients to use their own strengths and abilities to move forward with their own journey and healing process.
When working with clients who are experiencing challenging negative or unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, I provide skills to manage stress, challenge negative thoughts and beliefs and recognize unhelpful thought patterns.
During sessions, I provide clients practical tools to navigate distressing emotions, interpersonal conflict and coping skills to manage emotions.