LMFT, 15 years of experience
New to Grow
I am a licensed marriage & family therapist with 15 years of experience in the field. I started my career working with substance abuse counseling and DUI classes. I have worked with adults of all ages, children as young as three years old and teens as well. I specialize in talk therapy, play therapy, art therapy and working with unresolved trauma. I have experience working with individuals, couples, and families. I have been trained in parent child interaction therapy and can provide these services via telehealth. Most recently I had worked for a foster agency in California as a therapist and then for six years as the Behavioral Health Program Director. This was a wonderful experience providing me the opportunity to work with children in foster care, their biological parents in regaining custody of their children, and the foster parents who cared for the children until they returned home. For the children who were unable to return home I also was able to work with the adoptive families. Although I loved my position in the foster agency I missed working with individuals and families through therapy.
The first session is a time to get to know you better and to assist you in identifying what you want out of therapy. It can be a lot of questions but take heart as i will do my best to give you a piece of hope in the path that we are going to take. I want you to leave that first session feeling like this can be a beneficial step for you.
My therapeutic approach is set to match your needs. My greatest strength is accepting and meeting clients where they are at. I ask questions and help you to explore where you are at and where you want to be. I do not expect you to always have the answers right away. The beauty of therapy is that you have time to process and work out your thoughts, wants, and needs.
My ideal client is someone who is searching for a change and/or support even if they do not know exactly what they are looking for. I am here to walk this path with my client. I enjoy working with those who are willing to work through their difficulties and to try potential skills and continue to work until we find the right one that works for that client. I understand that therapy is a spectrum and different for everyone. Some may need deep therapy in a means to identify and reshape unhealthy life skills and others may need support during a time of grief, or life adjustments, or major life decision making.
I utilize this method of treatment to determine healthy attachments versus unhealthy attachments in your relationships. Attachments are not just one sided. Together we can work on bringing your relationships to a healthier balance.
Spiritual counseling is a modality of choice for the client. I am happy to provide spiritual counseling to assist in your treatment. Spiritual counseling ensures that your treatment is aligning with your spiritual values, beliefs, and goals.
I utilize CBT to assist clients with identifying how their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions affect one another. This modality is effective in breaking unhealthy thinking patterns and daily behaviors. Breaking these patterns has the potential to increase self esteem and overall positive emotions.
Couples counseling is beneficial in creating more positive communication skills. Each of the partners learn to listen to and respond to one another. This provides an opportunity to show love and respect to one another instead of each argument ending in tearing each other down.
Family therapy is about treating the family as a whole. The family as a whole is the client and not one selected individual. All families bring together generational beliefs, traditions, and parenting skills. It’s important to identify which of these is a beneficial element to the family and which is not. There is also the opportunity to start new traditions that the family as a whole will enjoy as their own.