Sometimes the best form of therapy doesn’t have to look like therapy. When working with young adolescents, college students, and adults in individual therapy, I often hear about their challenges feeling stuck, not like themselves, and essentially hopeless. When collaborating with individuals in therapy, I focus on strengthening the relationship and creating a safe space where everyone feels a sense of control, consistency, capability, and most of all connection.
I have over 10 years of experience working with individuals from diverse religious, cultural, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ communities. My approach integrates evidence-based treatments, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R), while accounting for each individual’s cultural identity, experiences, and needs. During my postdoctoral fellowship at the Beck Institute, I received direct clinical supervision from Dr. Aaron T. Beck, the founder of CBT, through group supervision in CT-R that included presenting and discussing my clinical cases. This experience helped shape my collaborative, strengths-based approach to therapy, emphasizing each individual’s capabilities, values, and aspirations.
I also specialize in treating individuals who may struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Treatment often involves helping the individual understand the traps that cause them to get into their cycles, develop the strategies to use and practice independently, engage in Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) and CBT to help with specific challenges, and essentially get them out of their patterns and back into their lives.
Almost anyone can work with a therapist to learn specific strategies. However, working with me involves taking a nonjudgmental collaborative approach where we identify and envision the best version of themselves and explore what are the challenges getting in the way. This approach allows anyone I work with to experience a ray of hope at the start of our work together while figuring out how we can get closer to achieving their aspirations. Finding easy and quick ways to reintroduce those skills, hobbies, interests, and most of all connections people have will improve their mental and emotional well-being before even learning any psychological interventions. Furthermore, holding onto one’s aspirations will help those who struggle with motivation to implement the strategies as it helps remind them about why it’s important to make the change.
Therapy for teens can have a lasting effect on how they view the world, offer comfort in a time of emotional and physical challenges, and give them a space to say the things that are making them feel hurt, disconnected, and alone in the world.
As a Postdoctoral Fellow, my areas of focus include:
If you’re ready to get started, I always offer a 15-min consult to see if we are a good fit. I’d love to help you or a member of your family get the help they need to get back to a life they see is worth living.
