New to Grow
As your counselor, my priority and main goal is creating a safe, inclusive, and judgment-free space where you feel heard, understood, and supported. Therapy is a collaborative journey centered on your growth and healing, one where we explore meaningful goals, deepen self-awareness, and make sense of your experiences. I will meet you where you are in your life journey and we will go through it at your pace, taking things as they come and building and enhancing skills to overcome not only the memories of the past but also current and future challenges.
Our first session will give both of us the opportunity to begin to learn each other and start building a therapeutic rapport. Come prepared to talk about what you'd like to get out of therapy, what's worked and what hasn't if you've been through this before, where you'd like to be in the next 6-12 months, and any other questions you'd like to ask about me or what I do in order to feel more comfortable with me.
Your treatment should be as unique as you are. I generally use an eclectic methodology or approach to treatment, focusing first on general principles that tend to come up with most clients I've worked with throughout the years. Understanding these basic principles to mental health and wellbeing tends to help individuals feel like they can get their feet back on the ground again, regardless if you are new to therapy or have been in and out of it most of your life. I am trained in trauma, mood and adjustment disorders, and coping with life transitions. I also am certified in equine facilitated psychotherapy (a methodology that heavily uses attachment theory), and frequently tap into CBT, DBT, ACT, and a plethora of other therapeutic approaches and theory- and strength-based methodologies across all populations I work with. I understand the neurobiology of attachment theory and how it pertains to not only people, but also between people and their pets. I have been known to encourage clients to use what they have around them to help regulate and heal themselves, including using their own pets as anchors to ground and regulate.
I have worked almost exclusively with military, veterans, and their loved ones over the past 3 1/2 years and with those with persistent mental illness before in their home environments.