Juana Miranda-Lopez LCSW

Therapy goals are individual, client specific and a collaborative process. Therapy begins with your story, you identifying the difficulties you have experienced, and also how you would like your life to look? As well as what does feeling better look like to you? I can help with this question, because at times it can be difficult for some to look ahead to what kinds of changes are possible with therapy. Once goals are established, we will begin moving forward with them utilizing small steps. Each session will allow you the opportunity to speak about where you are at, what you are feeling, and to we will figure out the next steps toward your goals. As part of the process I may ask you to follow up on tasks at home, in between sessions. This provides you an opportunity to try out and practice the skills we have discussed and found useful in therapy., and then during the follow up session, we can discuss what worked and where you encountered difficulties. We can then use that information to establish the next steps, progress toward positive, productive, healthy growth.

Initial my career goal was to be a physician, but i realized that I was better at helping people with life problems. I began my journey at Stony Brook University, School of Social Work. I was placed in an internship at a runaway home which housed 6 girls and 4 boys. I encountered individuals seeking to discover who they were and how to best navigate through their life and overcome the damage caused by others. I knew there and then that I wanted to help individuals with their life journey. My true inspiration came from the tragic reality i faced when my older sister, who was my role model had mental breakdown related to childhood trauma. I felt helpless and hopeless watching her lose herself, spiraling down into a void. She was treated with multiple medications group work and even shock therapy but with no success. At that point in time it hit me, she needed to face the trauma, process the experience and work through the pain, in a confidential, nonjudgmental, safe, supportive environment tailored to her, or it would forever define her. It was difficult to find someone that understood our culture, our background and that she connected with, Someone she could trust enough to allow them to travel with her through the darkness and show her the light. I could not help her, but i can help others resolve inner conflicts, process their experiences, release their anger and move forward to live productive, health, happy lives

• New Jersey, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, 44SC05896100
• New York, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, 086879-1

I have been a Clinician for 10 years, but a Social Work for over 35 years and I must say it has been a wonderful journey. In my professional career I have encountered people from all walks of life, of various ages, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Some of which experienced various social, personal and familial dilemmas seeking resolution for themselves, their families, and/or their lives. I experienced families and children within the Child Welfare system with issues of abuse, neglect, abandonment, and loss, in an attempt to provide stability and permanency. In my career I've also assisted those with issues of Domestic Violence, Homelessness, Alcohol and Drug use, Depression, and Anxiety. More recently I've been given the opportunity to guide seniors as they transition into the next stages of there lives. In retrospect, although some began their journey because of an outside source, then willingly continued, others of their own accord, none the less each of them has allowed me to take part in their process of growth and fulfillment in this journey we call life.