What impact did the scope and/or focus of your education have on your current work as a therapist?
My graduate training focused on Client-Centered Therapy. Over the years I have studied and use many additional therapeutic approaches and I believe the core components of genuineness, empathy and unconditional positive regard with clients are at the core of the work.
What’s the most profound, insightful, or interesting thing you’ve learned as a mental health professional?
I have been privileged over the past several years to study with the Neurosequential Network and learn about brain development and the impact of trauma on the developing brain. I find understanding how the brain develops, learns, communicates and is impacted by early attachment and trauma can help us to understand ourselves and most importantly the role healthy relationships play in healing.
In what ways do your life philosophy and treatment philosophy overlap?
I believe we are all doing our best at any moment with the skills we are able to access. When we learn new skills and feel supported to use them we can make the changes we desire.
Specialties
Adolescent mental health
Adolescent mental health focuses on adolescent-specific experiences including physical and cognitive development, social and environmental factors, sex, sexual identification and orientation, emotional processing, and substance use. Given the influence that parents/guardians have on adolescents, home life is a particularly important consideration.
Attachment issues
Children that experience parents and/or guardians that are avoidant, ambivalent, or resistant from an early age, may develop attachment issues. This can manifest as difficulty forming or maintaining friendships, romantic relationships and empathetic bonds throughout life, as well as other issues.
Child mental health
Children can be impacted by things like anxiety, depression, ADHD and more. However, they can be difficult to identify because kids aren’t always able to communicate effectively. Untreated, child mental health issues can have long-term effects.
Parenting issues
Parenting issues involve those associated with the child-rearing process. These may include safety, discipline, nutrition, finances, childcare, school, household rules, chores, daily routines, social activities, and relationships with extended family members. Because child-rearing practices vary by culture, cultural norms must be considered.
Trauma
Trauma is the result of experiencing a perceived, extremely distressful event. Although the stress threshold for each person differs, meaning that each person considers and experiences trauma differently, it is an event that tops one’s threshold. It exceeds one’s ability to cope or emotionally process. Symptoms may include shock, anxiety, confusion, hopelessness, feeling disconnected, mood swings, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts.
General Expertise
Anxiety
Anxiety can mean nervousness, worry, or self-doubt. Anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder that entails excessive, repeated bouts of worry, anxiety, and/or fear.
Loss/Grief
Grief is a reaction to an emotionally significant loss and often comes with symptoms of depression or anxiety. These symptoms can remain intense and last for a long time after a loss, making it difficult to move forward with a healthy lifestyle.
Abuse/Survivors of abuse
Abuse includes any significant mistreatment along the lines of psychical, emotional, sexual, verbal, and neglect. Survivors of abuse may experience negative thoughts and feelings, flashbacks, distrust of others, social withdrawal, self-harm, and increased likelihood of developing mental health and substance abuse issues.
Adolescent mental health
Adolescent mental health focuses on adolescent-specific experiences including physical and cognitive development, social and environmental factors, sex, sexual identification and orientation, emotional processing, and substance use. Given the influence that parents/guardians have on adolescents, home life is a particularly important consideration.
Attachment issues
Children that experience parents and/or guardians that are avoidant, ambivalent, or resistant from an early age, may develop attachment issues. This can manifest as difficulty forming or maintaining friendships, romantic relationships and empathetic bonds throughout life, as well as other issues.
Fees
$100
First Session
$100
Family Therapy
$100
Group Therapy
$100
Individual Therapy
Types of Therapy
Family Session
Individual Session
Group Session
Clientele
Young Adults (18-24)
Adults (25-65)
Children (5-12)
Adolescents (13-17)
Treatment Approaches / Modalities
Mindfulness Practices
Strength Based Therapy
Attachment-Based Therapy
Person-Centered Therapy
Play Therapy
Training / Certifications
Infant Family Specialist
Licensure
AZ, LPC, LPC-17954
LA, LPC, 2316
Education
Master of Arts Counseling and Guidance
Bachelor of Arts Psychology
Work History
I have been privileged to serve and learn from a variety of populations through my career. I have worked in community behavioral health agencies, groups homes, and designed and managed mental health supports for children and mothers escaping domestic violence. Over the past several years I have had the fortune to work with the Birth to Five population to support families and caregivers in providing nurturing and responsive relationships essential for developing mental health. I have continued this work in a public school setting supporting the social emotional and mental health needs of elementary children and their teachers.
Location
4035 East Osborn Road, PHOENIX, 85018