At its core, the purpose of therapy is to talk, listen, and notice what happens. It’s my job to foster a reliable space where you can speak freely, learn new ways to manage old problems, and imagine possibilities that may seem far away.
Having worked with children, adults, and families in a variety of clinical and community settings, I am well-equipped to address a wide range of life challenges and mental health concerns.
Now in private practice, I work with people who experience problems in living. These might be described as anxiety, depression, anger, grief, psychosis, life transitions, recurring relationship problems, self-doubt, meaninglessness, or the residual impacts of past traumas.
I recognize these problems do not exist in isolation but are connected to childhood, families, relationships, history, culture, racism, sexism, and other forms of systemic and interpersonal oppression. Along these lines, a basic imperative of my role is to embrace the lived-experience and fundamental humanity of everybody I work with.
My professional experience began in school-based therapeutic programs in Philadelphia. In 2013 I earned an M.S. in Clinical Counseling and Psychology from Chestnut Hill College, with a focus on psychodynamic and family systems theories. Since then I’ve worked as an outpatient therapist in community clinics and in private practice, as a mobile crisis clinician in psychiatric emergency services, and as a case manager, clinical supervisor, and team leader for community-based therapeutic programs for adults with serious and persistent mental illness.
In addition to my counseling degree, I completed additional coursework at the University of Massachusetts and received APA and EMDRIA-accredited training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR). Prior to my career in mental health I earned an M.A. in English from Rutgers Camden.
My approach to therapy is based in psychodynamic theory, which presumes that personality, behavior, and stress responses are largely shaped by early childhood experiences, unclear and sometimes conflicted motivations, along with interpersonal relationships across the lifespan. This type of therapy emphasizes connections between the past, the present, and the "here and now" of the counseling session.
During our first session we'll talk about what brings you in, how long you've experienced the problem, and where it might be coming from. From there I'll take a more detailed history related to childhood, family, relationships, education, employment, etc., and in doing so we’ll listen for the themes or patterns that emerge and together develop a plan for moving forward.
I also offer EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), a treatment that helps people recover from traumatic memories. This involves pairing troubling memories and associated thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations with repeated and rhythmic sensory stimulation (eye movements) to help reduce distress and increase adaptive processing. EMDR may be helpful for those experiencing persistent intrusive memories, avoidance, intense emotional duress or reactivity, somatic or physical symptoms, or severe impairments in coping with hardship. This type of therapy can be used singularly or as a supplement to ongoing psychotherapy.
