My Philosophy + Approach

You may not know it yet, but the person who is going to be the best expert about what will work best for you is you (don't worry, I'll be there to guide you through the process). My job is to listen and understand, and offer suggestions based on all of the information that you provide. A lot of people come to therapy wanting immediate relief and strategies, but I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach and the most effective strategies will be tailored specifically to you and your lifestyle. 

At my core, I am a person-centered therapist. The social worker in me also looks at the person in the environment they live in. No one exists in a bubble, so your upbringing, experiences, family dynamics, relationships, and the culture in which you exist are all relevant to the work we do. 

Due to my experience working with people experiencing psychiatric crisis (including on a mobile crisis team, in psychiatric and medical hospitals, and in emergency departments), I'm not afraid to work with people who are struggling with serious mental health symptoms like suicidal  thoughts, self-harming, or hearing voices. I take a non-judgmental approach to therapy, and I understand that I can never know exactly what it's like to be you.  

While receiving a diagnosis can be liberating or illuminating for some, I try to look at someone as an individual who may or may not be experiencing symptoms distressing enough to fit into a DSM category. Diagnoses are primarily for insurance companies, and while they can be helpful for guiding treatment at times—especially if someone will be taking medications to treat a condition—I tend not to focus too much on a diagnosis unless someone finds it helpful to do so. I treat people, not diagnoses. 

Maybe by now you're wanting to see those recognizable words associated with evidence-based treatment to see exactly what I do. My philosophy is best described as existential and relational, meaning I am most interested in and believe most work lies within how people relate to others and how they make sense of the world around them. For those people who are familiar with therapy terms, I utilize a variety of modalities such as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), mindfulness, DBT (dialecticall behavioral therapy),  narrative therapy,  motivational interviewing and IFS (internal family systems). However, I do not follow any model to fidelity; I believe there are benefits and limitations to any treatment, and not every approach is appropriate for every person. Therapy is most effective when customized to the individual.