Dr. Mona E Stribling Licensed Psychologist

My approach to therapy is collaborative, goal-oriented, strengths-based, and culturally-sensitive. My style is genuine, compassionate, accepting, and empowering. I offer a warm and supportive virtual space for you to share as you feel comfortable. Together, and at your pace, we’ll talk about your unique experiences, challenges, and goals for therapy. With a clear picture of your hopes and expectations for wellness, we’ll personalize our sessions to grow your strengths and build new skills to help you reach your goals.

Personal experience with invisible disability and trauma has taught me that we should “never judge a book by its cover.” It’s natural for people to take mental shortcuts to learn and solve problems quickly. But sometimes mental shortcuts, or assumptions, cause problems. They have then the source of a great deal of misunderstanding and pain in the world. When working with clients, I keep this in mind. For example, while humans are similar, people are unique. We have different identities, abilities, experiences, values, needs, hopes, and desires. A lot of these things you can’t see on the outside, but they’re still very important to us. Also, most of us have experienced some sort of trauma in our lives - accident, disaster, abuse, assault, war, death of a loved one. This too, may not be obvious to other people, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t affected you, maybe very deeply. Considering our diversity as well as our similarities and taking a trauma- informed approach allows me to remain open, curious, and nonjudgmental. I am careful not to make assumptions which could be actually re-traumatizing for clients. This “not- knowing” (non-assuming) approach is very natural for me. I talk a little more about my personality below.

At a very young age, I was called a “healer” and a “counselor.” Personality and career aptitude tests I’ve taken as an adult have confirmed the same. Empathy, a curiosity for and openness to others’ experiences/views/feelings, and a desire to help have always come naturally to me. I believe they help me to build strong rapport with clients. I’m an “an open book,” genuine and transparent by nature. This builds trust which is critical to building a strong connection. The rapport between client and therapist is very important for therapy to work. I’m also a “big picture” person. One of my favorite quotes is, “You know, out of context, I must seem so strange,“ by Ani DiFranco. Touching on a point I made above regarding how my personal experience has influenced my work, I firmly believe tendency to take a holistic view of people, situations, and the world is invaluable. There are countless factors, internal and external, that have influenced who we are and what we think, feel, and do. Many of them we’re aware of, and some we may not be aware of. Regardless, you are the expert in your own life. Keeping this in mind keeps me open, curious, respectful, collaborative, and ultimately, most helpful.

• Florida, Licensed Psychologist, Py9891
• Hawaii, Licensed Psychologist, Psy-2160-0

In addition to my training and employment with SJSU and Stanford University counseling centers mentioned above, I’ve worked in 3 other university counseling settings - UT at San Antonio Student Counseling Center (1 year training), OLLU Counseling Services in San Antonio (2 years training), and USF Tampa Counseling Center (6 years full-time, Staff Clinician). I’ve also worked in several community counseling clinics - OLLU Community Counseling Center in San Antonio (3.5 years training), Dee Norton Low Country Children’s Center in SC (4 months training), Family Services, Inc. in SC (4 months training), and Dallas Metrocare Services/Altshuler Clinic in TX (1 year 3 months full-time, Bilingual Qualified Mental Health Professional). Throughout my university and community counseling experience, I’ve provided individual, couples, and group therapy and a wide range of research and evidence-proven interventions. I’ve helped many children, adolescence, and adults from different backgrounds and with different experiences deal with a wide range of challenges. I’ve treated clients struggling with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma/PTSD, and issues related to a disability. I’ve also helped clients experiencing psychosis, substance abuse, eating disorders, anger management, family conflict, and relationship difficulties. I’ve been in full-time private practice now for over three years. The broad range of knowledge and skills from my previous experience has been invaluable in my current work; it’s through my previous training and employment that I’ve been able to specialize in my areas of interest and pass on to you that expertise. I currently offer individual online therapy to adults living in Florida and Hawaii. I specialize in Solution-Focused Therapy, a goal-oriented, strengths-based, and culturally-informed approach. My areas of expertise also include stress/adjustment, anxiety, depression, trauma, and disability-related concerns for adults. To best help clients with their unique concerns and goals, together we personalize sessions. So, I often use additional research and evidence-supported practices for which I also have expertise. Those strategies, for example, include skills to challenge unhelpful thoughts and actions that may cause or worsen stress, anxiety, and depression or skills to practice self-compassion and meaningful action to change unwanted thoughts and actions, often used to treat trauma and PTSD.