Compassionate therapy

Introduction Hello, and a heartfelt welcome to you! I feel honored by this opportunity to connect with you and for the possibility of collaborating with you. I sincerely welcome the parts and the hopes that brought you here. My Journey My journey to becoming a psychotherapist began at a young age observing others and responding to queries about my observations. Beginning in adolescence my curiosities, alongside my lifelong commitment to understanding and, hopefully, improving the human condition, expanded well beyond my immediate surroundings and Southern roots. I feel immensely grateful for my experiences in other countries and a variety of states from coast to coast. I have lived in urban, suburban, and rural settings, in upper middle class and impoverished neighborhoods. Following university and over a decade of service as an educator and counselor in shelters, a health department, and a community center, I enrolled in a counseling psychology graduate program. I chose a specialization in holistic studies, mind, body, and spirit, which enhanced my understanding of the interconnectedness of all beings and deepened my fascination with paradigms of consciousness. The common theme on my journey is healing within clear, compassionate, mindful connection with Self and one another, innately loving people in their wholeness and appreciating the intentions of more extreme parts. As a clinician, I have worked in a variety of settings including outpatient, primary care, school-based, and intensive in-home with people ages four to 90. For more than the past decade, it was more honor to serve as a psychotherapist with survivors of trauma, veterans, active-duty military personnel, and their loved ones. All of those with whom I have worked gifted me with their teachings, inspiration, and permission to become a part of their journeys. Thus, I find my vocation deeply meaningful, and I feel passionately about psychotherapy. My Approach I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and, intrinsically, a systems thinker and synthesist. Internal Family Systems Therapy is a natural fit for me. Fundamentally, I believe in the capacity of the human spirit and safety in connection. My job is to collaborate with you in realizing a sense of balance and connectedness. I believe that all problems can improve when addressed within a compassionate, nonjudgmental, therapeutic context. I respect each client as an individual, considering the person within the context of their unique life and environments. I try to keep myself educated and aware of cultural norms, shifts, blessings, and burdens. Mostly, I am interested in learning about you! Another reason I love therapy: I am continuously inspired and humbled by the creativity and tenacity of the human spirit. Internal Family Systems (IFS) combined with a meaningful therapeutic relationship provides opportunities for gentle, yet powerful and profound, shifts toward more balance in how one relates to oneself and the world. I believe that IFS is revolutionary in its capacity for internal shifts and collective healing. Internal Family Systems deepened my naturally curious, wholeheartedly earnest, intuitive approach and enriched my confidence in therapy as a client and as a therapist. IFS offers clients a beautiful unfolding opportunity to witness and be present with how they have come to take on certain beliefs and behaviors over the course of their life. IFS is an exquisitely self-correcting model as clients get to know their internal system and make space for unburdening those beliefs and behaviors that have led them to experience unhappiness, interpersonal difficulties, and at times, dissatisfaction with life. Clients are encouraged to cultivate a genuine and authentic approach to life, regardless of earlier contradictory messages. About Me In addition to my love of therapy, I enjoy spending time outdoors whether it be playing-in-the-dirt gardening, walking along the waterside near my Virginia home, observing natural beauty all around, reading, relaxing, and connecting with friends and family. Education & Licenses Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Virginia (#0717001865) Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, California (#53777) M.A., Counseling Psychology, Holistic Studies Specialization, JFK University B.A., English Literature, George Mason University Other Trainings Internal Family Systems (IFS) Levels 1 & 2, Compassionate Approaches to Addictive Processes IFS Continuity Program Professional Affiliation & Presentations California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) Art Therapy as an Approach to Trauma presentations to a Department of Veterans Affairs regional conference Moral Injury presentation to a Department of Veterans Affairs regional conference