About


Background


I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor. My clinical career began in Baltimore after I completed my Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Loyola University Maryland. I have over a decade of experience providing mental health therapy in community mental health settings as well as in a college counseling center. Most recently I worked for an LGBTQ+ affirming health center in Baltimore (Chase Brexton Health Care) before my family made the move to Charlottesville to be closer to extended family. For over three years I worked with undergraduate and graduate students as a Staff Psychotherapist with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at The University of Virginia before starting my private practice in 2021. 

Approach to Treatment

My style is collaborative, warm, and relational. I use a client-centered, trauma-informed, and integrative approach, drawing from several therapies and practices and tailoring my style for each individual’s needs and interests. During sessions I often incorporate EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), a valuable tool to assist with re-processing experiences that negatively affect one's sense of self by tapping into the brain's natural tendency to move towards healing and adaptive processes. I also incorporate skills from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and mindfulness practices to help clients cope with difficult thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so that they can move toward the life that they want to live.

Often, current difficulties, coping patterns, and beliefs about oneself are shaped by our past experiences and relationships. I find it helpful to reflect on these to increase understanding of and bring compassion to those early experiences and create a healing path forward. Additionally, I explore ways that stressful and traumatic experiences affect comfort in and connection with one's body while working together to create a sense of increased safety in the present moment.

I believe therapy should be a place where you can bring your whole self. I am LGBTQ+ affirming, WPATH certified, kink and poly friendly, and I strive to bring a feminist, social justice, and antiracist lens to my work.