about me

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When asked to answer the question, "what do you do?" honestly and more accurately than simply replying, "I'm a therapist":

"I empower women by example, helping them become their most self-aware, authentic selves and helping them to heal by making them feel truly seen and heard, sometimes for the first time in their lives."

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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 background has given me a great deal of lived experience to draw 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. etc.  My ability to connect with clients has only been strengthened by my personal experiences with child sexual abuse, growing up with a parent with serious undiagnossed mental illness, and managing chronic depression since childhood.  I also have experience, either personally or through supporting loved ones with the complexities of mental illness, suicide, addiction, sexual abuse, special needs, chronic illness/pain, estrangement, dissociation, mood disorders, autism spectrum disorder, AD/HD, divorce, parenting, emotional and financial abuse, and coercive control.

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.  

However, my practice has developed a focus on women, mostly in their 20's and 30's, and members of the LGBTQ+ community and I couldn't be happier. I really enjoy working with young women at that stage in their lives, when there are a million things going through their heads at any given moment, to help them find some peace, and find their center.

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!).