(she/her)
Hi! I'm Janet, an LCSW in CT with extensive experience working with children, adolescents, and families. I also have taught elementary education in classrooms from Pre-K to Grade 8 in CT and NY. 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 and as a school clinician at a therapeutic high school. Additionally, I have experience working in the foster care systems in CT and NY. Follow my professional instagram @heart_mind_soul_connection Please note- there is a fee for cancellations with less than 24 hours notice and a fee for 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 interventions that have worked in the past so that we can incorporate them into our sessions as well. Collaborating with you to determine your goals and working together and to support you from start to end 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 the first 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 will tailor my focus to each individual.
My focus is working with clients to develop goals and to guide them on their healing journey. Using strengths based interventions and mindfulness, developing healthy coping skills, and incorporating solution focused 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.
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.