My name is Kylie Yacuzzo. I graduated with my MSW from Western Carolina University and went on to get my LCSW through the state of North Carolina. I offer an in-person or virtual comfortable, safe space for you to talk through any feelings, feelings, or events that may be causing you distress. I utilize a holistic and trauma-informed approach to support a range of life challenges. I customize each person’s experience and tailor my modality based on their needs, including CBT, DBT, and SFT.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
During our first session, we will complete an initial assessment that goes over the specific problems that inspired you to seek therapy, what you hope to achieve over the course of treatment, a brief sketch of your life story, and any experience you've had with therapy in the past.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I find that a little bit of patience, compassion and understanding goes a long way. However, I am also a great listener and communicator, so I can often aid clients in expressing themselves, offering them the words, tools and ways to say how they feel.
About Kylie Yacuzzo
Licensed in
Accepts
Address
1101 North Main Street, Waynesville, NC 28786, Suite 11Appointments
Virtual & in-personMy treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a widely used psychological treatment that helps individuals understand the interconnection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how CBT is typically used with clients: 1. **Assessment**: The therapist begins by assessing the client's issues, symptoms, and behavior patterns to understand the specific challenges the client is facing. 2. **Identifying Negative Thoughts**: The therapist helps the client identify specific negative or inaccurate thoughts that contribute to their emotional difficulties. These are often referred to as cognitive distortions. 3. **Challenging Negative Thoughts**: The client learns to challenge these distortions and replace them with more realistic and accurate thoughts. Techniques such as questioning the evidence for their negative thoughts, analyzing the pros and cons, and reevaluating the probabilities of negative outcomes are used. 4. **Behavioral Experiments**: Clients test these new thought patterns through behavioral experiments that involve trying new approaches to situations that they would typically avoid or handle negatively. 5. **Skill Development**: Clients are taught new skills to cope with problematic behaviors. This could include problem-solving skills, assertiveness training, or stress management techniques. 6. **Homework Assignments**: Clients are often given tasks to complete outside of therapy sessions. These might involve practicing the skills learned in therapy, keeping journals about their thoughts and feelings, or gradually confronting feared situations. 7. **Review and Feedback**: In subsequent sessions, the therapist and client review the homework, discuss what was learned, and adjust the approach as necessary. 8. **Relapse Prevention**: Towards the end of therapy, focus shifts to strategies for maintaining the gains made during therapy and preventing relapse. This might include identifying potential triggers and developing plans for dealing with them. CBT is a structured, time-limited therapy that can be adapted to a wide range of psychological problems. It emphasizes the development of personal coping strategies and changing unhelpful patterns in cognition, behaviors, and emotional regulation.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that emphasizes the psychosocial aspects of treatment. The answer outlines a fundamental aspect of DBT, which involves two main tasks: 1. **Suppressing Maladaptive Thinking**: This involves helping clients identify and manage thoughts that are harmful or unhelpful. Techniques such as mindfulness, distress tolerance, and reality testing are used to help clients observe and control these thoughts without reacting impulsively or destructively. 2. **Promoting Adaptive Behaviors**: DBT also focuses on encouraging behaviors that are beneficial and appropriate for the client's situation. This is achieved through skills training in areas such as emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness, which help clients handle their emotions better and interact more effectively with others. The goal of these tasks is not only to improve the client's behavior and thinking in the therapy setting but also to generalize these skills to various other settings and situations in their life. This helps ensure that the improvements are durable and applicable in real-world scenarios, enhancing the overall quality of life for the client.
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational interviewing (MI) is a counseling approach designed to facilitate and engage intrinsic motivation within the client in order to change behavior. Here's how the answer breaks down the utilization of MI: 1. **Respecting Client Choices**: This emphasizes the core MI principle of autonomy. By respecting clients' choices, the counselor supports their sense of control and responsibility over their decisions. This is crucial because MI is client-centered and relies on the client's own motivations and values to drive change. 2. **Building Empathy and Open Conversation**: MI involves expressing empathy through reflective listening. This means the counselor listens carefully to the client and reflects back their feelings and thoughts, which helps the client feel understood and accepted. This open, empathetic communication is essential to reduce resistance and build a trusting relationship. 3. **Familiarity with MI Principles**: Continuous learning and application of MI principles are vital. These principles include expressing empathy, developing discrepancy (helping clients see the gap between where they are and where they want to be), rolling with resistance (avoiding direct confrontation), and supporting self-efficacy (the client’s belief in their ability to change). Being well-versed in these areas ensures that the counselor can effectively guide the conversation in a way that promotes self-motivation and readiness for change. By integrating these elements, the counselor can effectively use motivational interviewing to support clients in exploring and resolving ambivalence about change, ultimately leading to improved outcomes.
Trauma Informed Care
It is crucial to be aware of the ideas and procedures that may benefit people who have experienced trauma as a practitioner of trauma informed care. These concepts include establishing a secure and encouraging atmosphere, fostering rapport and trust, and dispersing knowledge and resources that may facilitate healing and rehabilitation.