I have a deep passion and respect for the power of therapy to change lives, which I have been privileged to witness in my work with clients, as well as in my personal life, both through the consistent use of therapy as a part of my own self-care, as well as having spent the last 20 years raising two children with special needs. I place a high value on authenticity, empathy, and self-awareness, both for myself and my clients as individuals, but also as a critical part of the therapeutic process (I also take advantage of the healing power of laughter whenever possible!). I aim to normalize and validate my clients’ experiences without judgment, and above all, to provide the most basic of human needs: to feel seen and heard.
My previous experience includes providing psychotherapy to a wide range of demographics and diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, self-harm, suicidal ideation, schizophrenia, and dissociative disorders, as well as patients with severe mental illness, multiple hospitalizations, and those on permanent disability due to mental illness. Due to the large number of clients affected by some type of trauma, I have pursued additional training, earning a CCTP-II (Certified Clinical Trauma Professional - Level 2) credential and attending the Traumatic Stress Studies Certificate Program led by Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score) through his Trauma Research Foundation. I hold a Trauma Certificate from NASW, and both a Clinical Certificate in Violence Against Women and a Certificate in Trauma Response and Crisis Intervention from Rutgers School of Social Work.
My background has provided me with a great deal of lived experience that can be drawn upon when building relationships with clients. I have had the privilege of having known, grown up with, and cared deeply about people from a variety of backgrounds, races, nationalities, gender identities, and sexual orientations. I have had exposure, either personally or through supporting a loved one, to the complexities of mental illness, suicide, addiction, sexual abuse, special needs, chronic illness/pain, grief, estrangement, dissociation, mood disorders, autism spectrum disorder, AD/HD, divorce, parenting, and the struggles of first-generation immigrants.
I hold an LCSW license in New Jersey, Connecticut, Oregon and Washington and have an MSW from Rutgers School of Social Work. I also have an MA in Music Education from NYU (I was a high school band teacher 25 years ago) and am licensed in NJ to teach K-12 instrumental and vocal music, with my primary instruments being voice and percussion (just a fun fact!).
It is the root of my pain,
my grief, my suffering,
the cavernous lair where my darkness
lies in wait.
It is the twisted and tangled product
of generations of pain.
It is a weight that threatens to drag me under
while compelling my lungs to breathe,
my heart to beat...
⌘⌘⌘
It is the source of my spark,
from where my very essence springs.
It is quick, penetrating, perceptive.
It is logic, sense, and sensibility.
It does battle in my name,
emerging victorious,
with my strength, my passion,
the very core of my being
the hard-won spoils of an invisible war.
⌘⌘⌘
It is my oppressor,
it is my liberation.
It is inescapable,
my only means of escape.
It is the light
that struggles to
banish the darkness.
It is perspective,
it is clarity,
clambering to hold fast to the
remnants of my resilience.
It is the injury.
It is the cure.
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