Groups I Work With

I have a proven track record in working with individ-uals with Depression (suicidal ideation and or at-tempts), Anxiety as well as Severe and Persistent Mental Illness. I am committed to working with indi-viduals within these populations, primarily because many have a high level of acuity, which demands an intense services and treatment due to the need of various levels of social and health supports. I under-stand that individuals who struggle with mental ill-ness are a heterogeneous group of people whose en-vironmental circumstances, mental, physical, and cognitive health impairments may lead to a deteriora-tion in their ability to function in various life do-mains. This speaks to the necessity of my engaging in clinical practices that adheres to the fidelity of treatment modalities that are influenced by both eco-logical as well as person centered theoretical princi-ples. Because of this, I have invested in the develop-ment of therapeutic strategies and techniques to as-sist with meeting the needs of individuals within this population.

As a clinician, I believe that recovery from mental illness or decreasemanagement of symptom impairments is likely if patients receive evidence-based treatments in line with NICE guidance. CBT involves psychoeduca-tion, which relies on my ability as a practitioner to ex-plain how it works to patients. It is a here-and-now, goal-focused, collaborative, evidence-based theory and thera-py. Therapy is time-limited, structured and based on a skills-based learning approach. It is a model where thoughts are central; thoughts cause feelings, distorted thoughts cause psychological distress, therapy can only be successful through changing thoughts.

The process of therapy is to help patients identify prob-lems and the thoughts that cause them, and then to help them change their thoughts through thought-challenging and behavioral experiments. I understand that Cognitive Restructuring varies therefore it necessitates the incorpo-ration of various strategies during the service delivery process.

Another area in which I possess expertise is work-ing with at risk children and adolescents. My expe-rience working within individuals within this popu-lation consists of providing outpatient, residential, and community-based mental health services to children and adolescents. Services rendered often addresses the needs of at-risk youth whose mental health illness caused significant impairments in var-ious life domains. I have a proven record of accom-plishment for providing similar services that have yielded positive treatment outcomes.

Program participants have developed skills and learned strategies to assist with symptom manage-ment and reduction as it relates to mental illness. Cognitive Behavioral treatment modality is em-ployed to assist with addressing mental illness as well as to assist with prevention and determent from maladaptive behaviors and criminal activities. The treatment process identifies and addresses underly-ing causal factors that contributed to behavior defi-cits. A critical component of the service delivery process is the inclusion of parent or primary care-givers, who played an active role in the treatment process. In addition, services are person-centered.