My approach to treatment is highly relational, as I believe that the foundation of counseling is a strong and genuine connection between the client and therapist. My goal is to create a space where clients can feel, be seen, and heard. My style is a blend of compassion, kindness, acceptance and authenticity; I am direct and engaging, action-oriented and solution-focused.

What excites you most about the evolving mental health landscape?

I firmly believe every person possesses the ability to learn from and work through whatever complications, obstacles, and hardship life may present. By providing tools you can utilize for the rest of your life, I will help you access your inner resilience to become your most content and fulfilled self.

What do you view as a key component of the therapeutic relationship?

Trust, respect, and congruence are major components of a good therapeutic relationship. In addition to empathy and genuineness. Providing a safe space for the client where there is no differentiation in hierarchy between therapist and client but rather a comfortable and relatable space for client. As with any other social relationship, the therapeutic relationship has boundaries which help to define acceptable and not so much behaviors.

Telemental Health Certfication - 2017

Parents

Young Adults (18-24)

Adults (25-65)

Seniors (65+)

Children (5-12)

Adolescents (13-17)

MS Ed, Mental Health Counseling, Hunter College

BA, Forensic Psychology, John Jay College

Self-esteem is the degree to which a person feels confident, valuable, and worthy of respect. Feeling low self-esteem can influence overall well-being and be linked to anxiety and/or depression.

Self-Esteem

Social anxiety or social phobia is fear of social situations or a fear of interacting with people other than close friends and family. Social anxiety can be persistent, intense, and debilitating, greatly affecting daily life.

Social Anxiety

Concerns that impact school performance or academic life. Can include perfectionism, bullying, financial stress, academic transitions, test anxiety, balancing school with other responsibilities, discrimination, or harassment.

Academic challenges

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.

Adolescent mental health

It's normal to experience anger at times, but for some, it becomes so frequent, intense, or difficult to control that it negatively affects their life. Anger management is a structured therapeutic approach toward reducing one’s anger to a point where more appropriate coping and/or conflict management skills are used. Beliefs and thoughts leading toward anger outbursts are explored while healthy coping and interpersonal skills are put into practice.

Anger management

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.

Attachment issues

Due to continued exposure to images of “normal” or “desired” body types, people can develop a range of positive or negative emotions about their appearance causing anxiety, depression, or eating disorders.

Body image issues

An ongoing effort to harm someone, physically or emotionally, based on perceived weakness. Commonly associated with childhood but can occur at any age. Could also take the form of sexual harassment or gossip.

Bullying

Issues arising from being in a new environment or away from home for the first time. College-aged kids have the highest rates of mental illness, suffering things like stress, anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, and substance abuse.

College & graduate student issues

Source of communication challenges in circumstances and relationships that can have a negative impact on mental health. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations often lead to arguments in personal, platonic, or professional relationships.

Communication issues

Moving to another place or living in a different culture requires a normal adjustment period. This happens at different rates for different people, some adjusting more quickly than others. Can potentially lead to ongoing issues.

Cultural adjustment

Separation and divorce can trigger a range of mental health challenges, even when the split is mutually agreed upon. Prolonged challenges can lead to stress, anxiety, depression and more.

Divorce & separation

Involves physical, sexual, or emotional abuse within the context of a family or relationship. Can happen to any gender, age, ethnicity, etc. and is often related to power dynamics and an abuse of power.

Domestic violence

Familial relationships can be the source of stress and emotional pain, even in the healthiest of situations. Painful interactions can range from irritation to resentment and lead to feelings of guilt, disappointment, and anger.

Family issues

Positive and negative change can be difficult, including things like moving, breaking up, adjusting to parenthood, or changing careers. It’s normal to feel stressed, however, life transitions can inhibit people from living healthy lifestyles.

Life transitions

PTSD is a condition that is precipitated by a perceived terrifying event. This event need not occur directly to the person but may happen vicariously—having seen something terrible happen to another person. The condition may last months or years while symptoms include ruminating thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, intense anxiety when triggered, and potential substance abuse in attempt to cope.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Distress stems from a subjective perception of something being unwanted, undesirable, or detrimental to your wellbeing. Excessive stress significantly impairs mental and physical health and is associated with many diseases and conditions.

Stress

Issues within a marriage. Can include issues related to trust, intimacy, communication, infidelity, parenting, or conflict. Can also include discussion related to separation or divorce.

Marriage issues

Behavioral disorders involve a pattern of disruptive behaviors that cause problems in school, at home, and in social situations. Can include hyperactivity, impulsivity, defiant behavior, chronic patterns of aggression, defiance, disruption, and/or hostility.

Behavioral Issues

Coping skills are tools and techniques one can learn, practice, and use to handle difficult emotions, decrease stress, and establish or maintain a sense of internal order.

Coping Skills

English

LMHC

Integrative approach to psychotherapy focused on gender-based stressors women face as a result of bias, stereotyping, oppression, and discrimination. Promotes understanding of social factors contributing to issues, helping the person become more self-aware.

Feminist Therapy

Modified form of cognitive therapy that reveals thought patterns that prevail during depressive episodes and teaches new ones to ease emotional pain and maintain wellness. Implements practices like meditation and breathing exercises.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Approach to psychotherapy helping people focus on the present rather than their perception of the past. Encourages the re-experiencing of emotions, sometimes through re-enactment. Goal is for clients to become more self-aware.

Gestalt Therapy

Emphasizes therapist’s understanding of the client’s background relating to racial, cultural, religious, gender, and sexual identities. Offers an empathetic space to manage mental disorders with sensitivity to the politics of power and oppression.

Culturally Sensitive Therapy

Positive approach focusing on the behavior of one person from their own perspective. Doesn’t categorize or stereotype groups, but implements self-awareness, thoughtful action, and mindfulness to treat depression, anxiety, panic disorders, and more.

Humanistic Therapy

Form of therapy focused on self-awareness, self-determination, rational choice, and a continuous search for meaning. Operates under the belief that anxiety is natural and that the exploration of personal experiences can lead to psychological well-being.

Existential Therapy

Form of psychotherapy employed to help individual family members resolve problems within the context of the entire family. Used to help them understand patterns of interaction and develop new ways of engaging with each other.

Family Systems Therapy

Therapists use the therapeutic benefits of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties, and assists with growth and development. Can be used to address behavioral problems, as well as anxiety, depression, ADHD, and academic and social development. Can include creative visualization storytelling, role-playing, puppets, stuffed animals, arts and crafts, sand play, etc. Play Therapy is typically used to help children between ages of 3-12.

Play Therapy

Form of positive psychotherapy focusing on internal strengths rather than shortcomings. The goal is to help someone build upon their best qualities and adjust to a more resilient mindset through the exploration of pre-existing strength.

Strength Based Therapy

Skill-based therapy focused on communication, management, and validation of painful emotions. Four key areas include mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Often used to treat depression, bulimia, binge-eating, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Treatment addressing the unhelpful patterns of interaction that cause issues among entire families. Focuses on communication, creating healthy boundaries, and changing overall structure rather than the thoughts or actions of individual family members.

Structural Family Therapy

Short-term form of therapy focused on adult relationships. Explores patterns to create more secure bonds, rebuild trust, and reduce stress, helping people understand their emotions and communicate their needs in relation to each other.

Emotionally Focused Therapy

Form of psychological counseling based on rebuilding trust and expressing dysfunctional emotion. Explores the connection between a person’s early attachment with primary caregivers and their ability to develop healthy relationships as an adult.

Attachment-Based Therapy

Form of goal-oriented positive counseling focused on methods of improving personal and professional quality of life. Provides specific tools and motivation used to harness personal strength, increase self-esteem, overcome challenges, and undergo transformation.

Coaching

Helps people identify the power of relationships in their lives, focusing on how they interact with others. Goal is to develop more mutually-satisfying relationships, taking into account race, class, culture, and gender.

Relational Therapy

Focuses on traits, thoughts, behaviors, and experiences that can improve the quality of someone's daily life. Goal is to center on positive experiences like optimism, creativity, and resilience, giving balance to the therapeutic process.

Positive Psychology

Addresses emotional and mental health of kids, adolescents, and adults who struggle to overcome destructive effects brought on by trauma, which is especially devastating to youth with post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from abuse or grief.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Psychotherapy focused on the interaction between thought and behavior. Examines negative thought patterns with the goal of changing responses to negative stimuli. Often used to treat depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Form of talk therapy that considers the role and concerns of cultural, ethnic, and racial identities, as well as minority groups in relation to religion, gender identification, income, disability, and more.

Multicultural Therapy

Focuses on improving current circumstances by making better choices, avoiding discussion of the past. Based on belief that people can’t control how they feel, but only how they think and act.

Reality Therapy

Form of nonverbal play therapy using a sandbox, figurines, and water to recreate miniature scenes that reflect a person’s inner thoughts and struggles. Imagery promotes self-awareness, growth, healing, and communication.

Sandplay Therapy

Guided conversational approach to helping people solve problems and reduce suffering by concentrating on the present and desired future. Coaching and questioning is intended to lead people to next steps using skills they innately possess.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Utilizes in-depth self exploration and insight into darker elements of the mind to better understand a person's suffering. Functions as an in-depth form of talk therapy designed to bring together the conscious and unconscious mind.

Jungian Therapy

Similar to psychoanalytic therapy — a form of in-depth talk-therapy — but less focused on the person’s relationship with the therapist. Usually involves less sessions and at a lower rate of frequency.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Form of counseling that helps people resolve ambivalence and insecurity into the motivation to meet specific goals like sobriety. Utilizes collaborative conversation, recognizing how difficult change can be while fostering an atmosphere of acceptance.

Motivational Interviewing

Takes a practical approach to adjusting self-defeating thoughts and behaviors. Goal is to identify, challenge, and replace the irrational beliefs that interfere with life goals, allowing a person to develop successful relationships.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

Non-authoritative approach allowing the person or client to take the lead in the process of self-discovery and healing. Therapist facilitates the conversation with complete acceptance and a lack of interference.

Person-Centered Therapy

Time-limited approach to treating mood disorders and emotional distress. The goal is to provide strategies to resolve problems in interpersonal deficits, unresolved grief, difficult life transitions, and dealing with interpersonal disputes.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Addresses behavior and emotions of family members/partners and how they affect one another. Therapy is given to individuals and groups. Used to treat conflict and uncover the impact of mental disorders on the group.

Marriage and Family Therapy

Individual Session

Depression often causes people to feel sad, empty, or hopeless, and can cause a lack of interest in life. It can also affect a person's thinking patterns and physical health.

Depression

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.

Anxiety

Refers relationship issues with a partner or spouse. Can include issues related to relationship distress, relationship satisfaction, communication, intimacy, etc.

Relationship Issues

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.

Child mental health

Women’s health is regarded as the holistic being and experience of being female. This extends beyond consideration for illness and other complex conditions but to general considerations of physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Issues may include female oppression, socialized gender role, female reproductive issues, motherhood, body image, divorce, and substance use.

Jessica GarciaLMHC

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What is your style/approach to therapy?

What excites you most about the evolving mental health landscape?

What do you view as a key component of the therapeutic relationship?

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