Change is hard.

There are many times in life when we should do something different, but find it hard to change our habits, whether it's day to day things we do, ways we think, opportunities we put off, or lack of balance in our relationships. Sometimes, people are carrying baggage of things they didn't have any choice in, all the while trying to care for themselves and those around them.

It's easy to get overwhelmed and stuck, and although we want things to be different, sometimes we're not sure how to get there. Often, the journey is more valuable than the destination, but you want to be confident that you have the right person on that journey with you. I strive to provide a comfortable, safe, and supportive environment for healing and growth.

Journey of growth and healing

Everyone has the ability to face the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that keep them from moving forward and living a happy and healthy life. I try to meet clients wherever they are in their journey so that they can feel comfortable processing their life experiences and making needed changes.

Therapy is a process to help you identify a problem behavior, looks at the causes, and then we select an approach to help you change that behavior. I am trained and experienced in treating a variety of emotional, psychological, and behavioral difficulties in children, adolescents, and adults. It takes strength and courage to seek change through therapy, but I will work with you as a guide to use your inner strength and resiliency to move forward and help you to achieve your goals. I believe in helping individuals, couples, and families overcome the situations and behaviors that must be faced in life, not just treating a diagnosis.

About Me

I am a Licensed Registered Certified Social Worker (LCSW-R) with over 13 years of experience working with adults, children, adolescents, and couples. I work with clients to address a wide range of issues, including anxiety and depressive disorders, parent-child relational problems, anger, autism-related issues, trauma, and couples and family counseling.

Prior to going into private practice, my clinical experience has been at Livingston County Mental Health Services where I saw firsthand the results of how problems in life can grow bigger and affect all areas of happiness and well-being if someone does not get outside perspective and guidance on how to change these patterns. These often include experiences of trauma, physical, sexual, mental, or emotional abuse, and I have sought to learn as much as I can about the interplay of issues of abuse by a family member vs. a stranger, sibling relationships, lack of attachment to a caregiver, and the ways that this plays out throughout someone's life.

Prior to that, I had experience at St. James Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit, and was able to see kids and their families struggling with a wide variety of issues and backgrounds. This has given me a better understanding of the range of problems that kids and their families may struggle with, and the many tools that can be helpful in improving their lives. Prior to 2003, I worked at Livingston and Steuben County Departments of Social Services, working with families to address familial problems for 6 years.

I think that ongoing training and education is of utmost importance in learning about the causes and interactions of problems, as well as new interventions that can create change. I have been trained in many techniques, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Autism Treatments, Play Therapy techniques, Couples Counseling, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and trauma treatment. I continually attend trainings and use consultation to improve my counseling techniques and learn new ones.

I try to focus on helping you identify what has worked for you and what hasn't, then to serve as a guide to help you identify what changes you want to make. We work together to develop a plan to make those changes become a reality. You can also expect questions designed to help you understand yourself and your problems, and point to solutions you may not have thought of before. As you learn to do this for yourself, you will feel empowered, more hopeful, and able to cope with life’s challenges. Making changes in your life isn't an easy process, but I will provide you with new skills that you can use to make the needed changes you seek. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to see this come about.

My goal is to partner with you in your therapy. I find that the most important part of your therapy is to actively participate in therapy, not just "show up". I try to actively engage people in their therapy, and encourage your input as to what works and what doesn't since you are the expert on yourself. However, it is important to remember that in order to make changes, you as the client need to actively try to use the techniques both in session and between sessions. Without practicing the techniques between sessions, the techniques are not available to you when you most need them. These are the techniques that help you move from allowing your issues to identify you, to allowing your strength to identity you.