New to Grow
As a licensed therapist with 25 years of experience, I focus on helping individuals navigate complex life transitions and challenges related to personal growth. My work is centered on empowering clients to better understand and manage relationship dynamics, recovery from addiction, and multicultural experiences with empathy and care. I have extensive experience supporting clients through family conflict, communication difficulties, and personal healing. I take an individualized approach that respects each person’s unique background, with particular attention to women’s issues, workplace stress, and midlife transitions. Through my clinical experience, I guide clients in exploring self-worth, finding purpose, and developing healthier relationship patterns. My approach is grounded in recognizing the connection between personal identity, cultural influences, and resilience. I strive to create a safe, supportive, and affirming environment where clients feel comfortable exploring their experiences, gaining insight, and building meaningful strategies for lasting growth.
In your first session, we’ll spend time getting to know each other and understanding your unique experiences, challenges, and goals. I’ll ask questions about your personal history, relationships, work, and any current stressors so I can get a clear picture of what matters most to you. We’ll also talk about the transitions or challenges you’re facing, whether that’s related to personal growth, family dynamics, workplace stress, or recovery from addiction. The session is an opportunity for you to share what brought you to therapy, explore what you hope to achieve, and ask any questions about the therapy process. I’ll explain my approach, how I work, and ways we might collaborate to help you build self-understanding, develop healthier patterns, and strengthen your resilience. By the end of the session, we’ll have a shared sense of your goals and a plan for moving forward in a way that feels supportive, safe, and personalized to your needs.
I bring 25 years of experience and a strong foundation in supporting individuals through complex life transitions and personal growth challenges. I am skilled at empowering clients to understand and manage relationship dynamics, recovery from addiction, and multicultural experiences with empathy and care. My approach is individualized, respecting client's unique background. By integrating an understanding of personal identity, cultural influences, and resilience, I create a safe, affirming environment where clients can explore their experiences, gain meaningful insight, and develop practical strategies for lasting growth. This combination of experience, cultural awareness, and client-centered focus makes my work both compassionate and effective.
I work with a range of clients, including individuals, couples, and adults from about 18 to 64, because it allows me to support people through many different stages of life and types of challenges. With individual clients, I appreciate the opportunity to focus deeply on a person’s unique experiences, goals, and personal growth. It’s rewarding to see someone build insight, develop coping skills, and make meaningful changes in their own life. I value working with couples because it gives me the chance to help people strengthen their connection, improve communication, and better understand each other. I find it meaningful to support partners in working through conflict and rediscovering what brings them together. I also work with adults across this age range because each stage of adulthood comes with its own transitions and challenges—whether that’s navigating early independence, career stress, relationships, or later-life changes. Being able to adapt my approach and support people through those different experiences keeps the work engaging and meaningful.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
Before we get started, I want to share a bit about how I work. I use something called Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. That means instead of spending a lot of time digging into everything that’s gone wrong or analyzing the past in detail, we focus more on what you want your life to look like moving forward and how to start getting there. I’ll ask you questions that help identify what’s already working, even in small ways, and times when the problem feels less intense or more manageable. Those moments give us clues about your strengths and what we can build on. This approach is usually pretty practical and goal oriented. We’ll work together to come up with small, realistic steps you can try between sessions. The idea is that change doesn’t have to be huge to be meaningful. Small shifts can start building momentum. And throughout all of this, I see you as the expert in your own life. My role is to help guide the process and ask useful questions, but we’ll collaborate on what feels most helpful for you.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I use an approach called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT for short. The basic idea is that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all connected and sometimes the way we think about a situation can make us feel worse or keep us stuck. In CBT, we pay close attention to patterns in your thinking. Thoughts can feel really automatic and true in the moment, but part of our work is to slow them down and take a closer look at them. We’ll also look at behaviors. Sometimes when we feel anxious or down, we avoid things or get stuck in patterns that unintentionally make things harder. Together, we’ll experiment with small changes—like gradually facing something you’ve been avoiding or trying a different response—and see what happens. CBT is pretty structured and practical. We’ll usually set goals, focus on specific problems, and sometimes I’ll suggest exercises to try between sessions, like tracking thoughts or practicing a new skill. Those between-session practices are an important part of making progress. Overall, it’s a collaborative process. We’ll work together to understand what’s going on and find strategies that actually help you feel and function better in your day-to-day life.”
Couples Counseling
My role here is to support both parties in the relationship and not to take sides or decide who’s right or wrong. I’ll help create a space where each of you can speak openly and feel heard, even if things have been tensed or difficult. A big part of our work will be looking at patterns in how you communicate and respond to each other. I’ll often ask each of you questions to better understand your perspective, your feelings, and what you need from each other. We’ll also work on practical skills, like how to communicate more clearly, listen without interrupting, and express concerns in a way that doesn’t lead to escalation. Another important piece is identifying what’s already working in your relationship—your strengths, shared values, and the reasons you’re together. We’ll build on those as we work through challenges. We’ll also talk about goals. What you each hope will improve and work toward small, realistic changes between sessions. Overall, this is a collaborative process. You both bring important perspectives, and my role is to guide the conversation, help you understand each other more deeply, and support you in making changes that feel meaningful for your relationship.”
Psychoeducation
I use something called psychoeducation, which means I help you understand how your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors work, as well as what’s happening in your body. I’ll always connect the information back to your personal experiences, so it feels relevant, and you’re welcome to ask questions at any time. My goal is to give you useful tools and insight, so you feel more informed, more in control, and better able to handle what you’re going through.
Eclectic
I don’t use just one single method. I take what’s called an eclectic approach, which means I draw from different types of therapy depending on what fits best for you. Everyone’s experiences and needs are different, so instead of sticking to one model, I tailor our work together by using a combination of techniques—like focusing on thoughts and behaviors, exploring emotions, or building practical coping skills. For example, some sessions might be more structured and goal-oriented, while others might focus more on processing feelings or understanding patterns in your relationships. I’ll choose approaches based on what seems most helpful for what you’re going through, and we can adjust as we go. Overall, the goal is to create a flexible, personalized experience that meets you where you are, rather than trying to fit you into a one-size-fits-all approach.