My Approach to Helping
My primary goal is to provide you with symptomatic relief and improvement in functioning and well-being. I believe that people have the ability to improve their circumstances, symptoms, feelings, andor thoughts even when that seems impossible. I will work closely with you while we help to move you to a more positive and functional situation.
The first step in therapy is for me to learn all about you and what has brought you to a point in your life where you are seeking help. I will ask you to tell me all about yourself, your life, and your current situation. I will work hard to listen for patterns and make connections between your past and your current situation. Through this process I will be able to develop a comprehensive treatment plan and have a good understanding of what therapeutic modality would work best for you. We will work together from that point forward collaboratively and establish a strong and mutually trusting therapeutic relationship.
The most important part of the experience will be to instill and foster hope and to make sure that you feel supported.
You are not alone.
More Info About My Practice
I have completed four years of predoctoral internship training in both inpatient and outpatient settings working with women, addiction and recovery, severe and persistent mental illness, college counseling, and LGBTQIA+ populations. I completed a postdoctoral residency working in an inpatient setting with trauma, crisis, severe mental illness, and addiction. I have spent four years managing an inpatient addiction center and related substance abuse programs. I am currently president of the board of directors for the Postpartum Society of Florida and have received additional training in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
How Psychotherapy Can Help
Interestingly, research shows that many clients make an improvement between making the telephone call to book the first session, and the actual first session (Wampold, 1997). By the time they arrive in the therapy room and meet the therapist for the first time, they are often feeling better, more empowered and more hopeful.
Therapy can help in a number of ways. Some of them include the following:
Understanding your illness
Defining and reaching wellness goals
Overcoming fears or insecurities
Coping with stress
Making sense of past traumatic experiences
Separating your true personality from the mood swings caused by your illness
Identifying triggers that may worsen your symptoms
Improving relationships with family and friends
Establishing a stable, dependable routine
Developing a plan for coping with crises
Understanding why things bother you and what you can do about them
Ending destructive habits
Importance of the Client-Therapist Alliance
The Client-Therapist Alliance (the bond felt between client and therapist) is the most powerful factor in the process of emotional and psychological healing. It has been found to be more important than any other factor in therapy including how much education or experience and therapist has or what type of therapy is used.
There are multitudes of studies that show that a collaborative relationship between the therapist and client is associated with positive therapeutic progress. The most important aspect of effective therapy requires the patient and the therapist work together collaboratively. But even so, the power of the alliance is often far stronger than many realize, and the most effective therapists are those who focus specifically on building the alliance above all else.
Clinicians who offer sliding scale payment structures may offer lower or reduced fees based on an individual's ability to pay. Please contact this clinician for more details regarding their fees or sliding scale policy.
