Hi there! I'm April, a Licensed Professional Counselor based in Pennsylvania. It is a great step you are taking in your own journey to be looking for a therapist who you'll work well with. I have worked with clients spanning from pre-adolescents to elderly adults. Most of my work has focused on adolescents and young adults. I hope you find the therapist that will be the best fit for you, and look forward to meeting you if you want to schedule a session with me.
With my clients, it is my aim and my nature to help you feel at ease and genuinely express yourself even on your worst days. I seek to know your story, the one that led you to pursuing therapy today. In our first session, I will make space for you to share the things you've wanted to get off your mind for a while. I will show you my personality and counseling style, so you have a sense of whether we'd work well together. In addition to the standard intake questions we have to cover, my intent is that you'll walk away with a sense of hope for your particular situation and experience an initial trust with me so that you can open up as your genuine self as time goes on.
When offering telehealth therapy, I try to ensure it is creative and just as engaging as an in-person session. We might use a digital drawing pad to create pictures, diagrams, or other visuals to represent your words. I may show a video, or even have you use items around the room to make the session interactive. As a person, I am curious, caring, easy going, and encouraging. In working with me, rapport is often built quickly so we can take steps towards the goals you create without delay. I believe my clients know themselves better than anyone else knows them, but I have the ability to ask thoughtful questions and point out my perceptions in a way that clients have deeper self-understanding through our sessions. While therapy can often take time to see progress, you will know you have a trusted confidante and encourager in me along the way.
By utilizing ACT in my practice, I find that I can meet clients where they are at and help them to find a sense of peace in the present while empowering them to take steps towards bettering their life and wellbeing. The Acceptance and Commitment approach allows my clients to live a life that feels fulfilling because their actions are in line with their values. At the same time, they can find relief from the burdens that are weighing on them from the past.
We all know how overwhelming our own thoughts and feelings can be. While it might sound cliche, it often is true that "we are our own worst enemies." Using CBT techniques allows me to explore a client's inner world alongside them and begin to transform the parts hindering a person from the life they desire. At times, I might use worksheets or diagrams from CBT in our work so clients have something tangible to practice with.
In my work, I consistently recognize how significant childhood experiences and subconscious feelings and defenses are in a person's life. By using psychodynamic techniques, I am able to hear a client's story, even the earliest parts, and understand them as deeply as I can. Often times, a person's difficulties are developed from self-preservation and the psychodynamic approach makes space to empathize with those experiences. I use this theory to be able to tell a client, "what you're going through makes sense." We then can begin to create a new sense of safety by untangling those self-preservation tactics.