I’m so glad you’re here. I imagine it wasn’t easy to take that first step — to consider asking for support, particularly in a world where many isms, biases, and stigma exist. This is a sign of strength and desire for growth, and I’d be honored to work with you on this path before you.
I believe that growth and change can best be achieved within a nurturing, accepting, and respectfully challenging environment. As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist/Associate Professional Clinical Counselor, I offer a Person-Centered approach to building a therapeutic relationship with you. What that means is a relationship built on authenticity and providing you with the empathy, nonjudgement, and unconditional positive regard that enables you to achieve the change and goals you desire. Through this relationship, we can explore your thoughts, feelings, and unmet needs, as well as what may be getting in the way of you living the life you want.
Taking a Dialectical approach, I can teach you skills, such as dialectics to foster flexible thinking, mindfulness to increase self-awareness, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation to cope with distressing emotions and situations, and interpersonal effectiveness to build self-respect and meaningful relationships.
I can also provide a Cognitive-Behavioral approach to support you in understanding the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and how to support you in attempting to change the way you think, feel and behave.
I will also provide trauma-informed care by recognizing the signs, symptoms and impact of trauma, and by providing you with a safe and empowering space to move toward healing — at your choice and pace — to prevent re-traumatization.
Specialties
I specialize in working with transitional age youth (ages 15-25), their families and am passionate about working with those who identify within the LGBTQI+ community. Prior to joining Nugent Family Counseling Center, I worked in an intensive, non-profit, community-based setting for four years, where I was fortunate to be a part of the journey of at-risk transitional age youth in crisis. I’ve worked with clients in foster care and the juvenile justice system, as well as those who have experienced multiple hospitalizations, to help them evolve from a state of trauma and crisis to emotional stability, self-exploration, self-acceptance, independence, and belonging. I also have experience working with elementary and high school students in school-based settings, as well as adults, the elderly, couples, and families.
Education & Training
I received my Masters in Counseling Psychology with a dual emphasis on marriage and family counseling and professional clinical counseling from John F. Kennedy University in 2017. I’m trained in DBT, CBT, TF-CBT, Seeking Safety, and Motivational Interviewing. I’m also a certified RISE trainer who has trained other professionals on how to Recognize, Intervene, Support, and Empower LGBTQI+ youth in systems of care.
In the state of California, I’m licensed as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #126175 and registered as an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor #4615. I’m supervised by Laura Silvester, MA, LMFT #114052 of Nugent Family Counseling Center, Inc.