Abuse happens in all forms (e.g. cultural/spiritual, verbal, financial, psychological, physical, and sexual). It also happens to anyone and can impact you regardless of your age, gender, socioeconomic status, and race. It occurs in families, in the workplace, in friendships, in dating relationships, and even at random.

In my experience I have treated abuse survivors through trauma informed care, advocacy, and cognitive restructuring, healing physiological reactions to triggers, and rewiring of the brain to correct unhelpful thinking. Depending on the abuse, there may be a need for resource referrals, advocacy with systems, or treatment interventions to reduce the impact that abuse has had on a person.

Depending on where a person is on their academic journey, they are faced with many challenges. Learning is only one task, but to ask for help when stuck, to advocate for your needs and rights, and making use of the resources available to you can be hard.

When I have worked on academic achievement, I have focused on self-awareness, routines, habits, short-term and long-term goals, self-advocacy, and improving motivation to finish work as well as improving concentration and reducing distractability.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which means that your brain is simply wired differently than others. This impacts what is known as “executive functioning” which makes everyday tasks that may be easy for others to complete a lot harder for those who live with ADHD.

I work with individuals to learn more about ADHD, increase self-awareness, develop organizational skills, identify tools for aiding in managing symptoms, and improving habits that will help address the challenges that come with living with ADHD.

At times a person’s mental health is impacted by external forces. Meaning that there are situations going on or systems involved in a person’s life that are impacting them and their mental health.

In my work, I have provided advocacy on behalf of my clients by attending IEP or 504 Plan meetings, DCYF team meetings, mental health court meetings, etc. I have written emotional support animal letters as well.

Anger is a normal and healthy emotion. It is often hard to understand, to manage, and to process. At times anger gets the best of us and the reactions we have tend to have consequences. In recognizing that anger is getting the best of a person or a situation, in my work, those who have wanted to address anger have reported feeling a weight lifting off their shoulders or less reactivity to stressors or triggers in their life. We work to identify what impacts anger, what triggers exist, what alternative strategies to take to channel anger in a healthier and less consequential manner, and to heal wounds caused that may be masked under the anger.

Anxiety can be both helpful and harmful as it can be your mind and body’s “lookout” for you in that anxiety is a reaction to assessing a situation and potential threats. At times it may cause panic or panic attacks. The threat can be interactions with others, to leaving the home, to uncomfortable or stressful situations, to health outcomes, and it can be overwhelming to allow your mind to explore what is truly possible. When it becomes out of control and physically impacts your life (e.g. concentration, sleep, appetite) is when it is time to get help to address the anxiety.

In the past I have helped people find ways to reduce the anxiety through various methods. For social anxiety, I take a person-centered approach to helping a person through increasing socialization, and by rewiring the brain to think and react differently when in social situations. As a result, less physical symptoms of anxiety are felt. Other methods include mind-body work, mindfulness techniques, and relaxation skills.

Living with bipolar disorder is difficult when you unsure of what is happening to your mind and body. There have been numerous times that a person finds out about this diagnosis when they are hospitalized or involved in systems that then require a mental health evaluation. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder and requires that a person experience at least one episode of mania in the previous 12 months prior to assessment. This makes it difficult to diagnose if a person persistently experiences the depression associated with bipolar disorder. In my work with clients living with bipolar disorder, I have worked to nurture supports and connections to resources and sources of strength for each person. This is a lifelong illness that requires some diligence in addressing the moods that come with living with bipolar disorder.

What I would like to stress is that I am more or less referring to body dysmorphia as a concept and not as a disorder. We live in a society that has projected unrealistic and harmful expectations onto people and in turn there has been a significant issue with societal standards regarding beauty and acceptance.

I struggle with making a point to assert my stance using terms like “fat acceptance” because it continues to reinforce that others do not accept people unconditionally and therefore to assert that I accepting at times feels like I am pointing out something about you that I really have no need to. It shouldn’t be like this and we can discuss that more in sessions.

So when I refer to body dysmorphia I am thinking about a person who is struggling with accepting their body and image for whatever reason they have (e.g. post-partum, trans identity/pre-transitioning operation discomfort, social stress). While it is a disorder, I would explore this topic with you without a need to diagnose it.

In having once worked in a crisis stabilization, intervention, and prevention program I have learned that a mental health crisis looks different for every single person. Until you have lived the exact circumstances and have the same wiring in your brain and similar responses could you begin to understand each person’s version of a mental health crisis. In the past, crisis services that I have provided have focused on: preparing for a possibility of a crisis, creating a crisis plan, preventing an impending crisis by proactively engaging in actions to deter or combat the crisis, and as needed I have assisted with voluntary inpatient hospitalizations and have walked people through the process and provided collaborative care with hospitals to advocated for those I have worked with. Once back in my care, we then reflect on the positives of that experience so that hospitalizations that are voluntary are seen first as beneficial and not immediately seen as being restrictive.

Like Bipolar Disorder, depression is a mood disorder and should be seen as when various bodily functions and aspects of your life feel depleted or simply have low intensity. So if you are living a low activity lifestyle, have very little that gets you hyped up and motivated, and generally feel “blah” most of the time or you have a hard time making decisions, then you are likely experiencing depression. And if you can develop habits and skills that give your life the boost it needs to lift yourself out of a depressive state, you will find that depression really can be a debilitating disease. Meaning that you can have the drive and desire to get better, but depression literally makes it hard when you struggle to get out of bed or move around.

In the work I have done, I take a gentle approach to depression and individualize treatment so that it is effective. It could be as simple as starting off with opening the blinds or windows every morning to mood tracking or taking up new hobbies, to adding exercise into one’s routine, to referring to someone who can prescribe anti-depressants as there are times where medication may be more helpful or it may work in addition to behavior changes and cognitive rewiring to reduce depression symptoms.

There are times where external factors and situations are what is impacting a person or family’s mental health. Housing and food security are vital to a person’s well-being and mental health. If you are experiencing issues with housing or homelessness, I would work with you to navigate systems and assist in finding support and resources that may be helpful to addressing housing challenges. I can also advocate as needed on your behalf or alongside you.

Having worked in academic settings (elementary school, middle school, high school, and a technical college) I have seen how students are usually taught one way and expected to understand the content. When a child falls behind, they then struggle with asking for help or talking to their parent or teacher about it. I have often been involved in the IEP process and take great care and consideration into advocating for families to have the support they deserve and to know their rights. I have assisted with many IEP and 504 Plans and have also held sessions at a child’s school to better serve them and to collaborate with academic support staff on site.

I would like to note that I am not listing this as an issue but rather I am listing an identity that has been encompassed into an acronym that doesn’t even begin to truly describe a person or their identity. What I am choosing to list this here is a note to potential clients that if you identify as LGTBQIA2S+ then this is a safe space to discuss anything pertaining to your identity and it will be affirmed and respected. That there is more processing done about how others are reacting to your identity and/or lifestyle than there is about how you are feeling, or that you are in a journey of your own where perhaps religious upbringing or parental values have made being open and authentic limiting and that has impacted your mental health. Again, it is not the identity that is a disorder or problem but rather there are stressors, barriers, and problems related to having an identity that I want to note on my list. I am an ally and have queer children myself and want you to know you are safe in my presence as I am always learning and evolving and remain humble in my ignorance and work. You may see me ask for grace and for a better understanding of topics if we work together as I cannot read into what I can better learn directly from someone who is an expert in their own right.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a behavior disorder that can progress into more harmful and destructive disorders (i.e. conduct disorder). I have often seen clients who live with ODD start services in elementary school. There is usually a referral from the school or a parent/caregiver is noticing oppositional behavior that cannot be explained by another stressor or issue. When I work on ODD, I work with both children and parents on self-determination, ownership and accountability.

The issue with managing ODD is that rules, authority, and consequences are hard to accept and it takes a great deal of work to undo any negative perceptions a child has about conforming, listening, following through with requests, complying with rules, etc. If left untreated it can impact a person academically, socially, and occupationally.

These days it can be said that there is a handbook for parenting but we all know that the book gets tossed out at some point. What I notice is that a parent is the best person to help their child when they have the ability to identify with what their child is going through. And especially if it’s related to mental health. If aim to help a parent manage their stress and increase strengths and skills that will improve relationships in.the family but help family functioning.

At times parenting skills and support is needed because there have been some unhelpful or harmful parenting practices that were used in your family that you do not want to pass on to your own child but struggle because change is hard or you are unsure of what to do and how to do it. This is where we develop a new handbook together. In my presence you are not judged for your parenting style, however I am a mandated reporter and disclosures of child abuse must be reported. I aim to prevent that by providing a safe space to vent and find healthy solutions.

One of my main specialities is trauma and it comes in various forms and can happen to anyone. Trauma comes from experiencing natural disasters, to monumental or volatile moments in a person’s life, to collective trauma faced by a group of people surviving a major event, or complex lifelong trauma where a person has repeated experiences. It can impact children, adolescents, and adults and at any time. And the key to recovering from trauma is to learn how to process it and to move forward and heal. The aim is also to return to a level of functioning in your life that is similar to before the trauma happened. For a natural disaster survivor it is being able to hear heavy rain and not panic or start to prepare for an evacuation , for others it means taking baby steps to eventually entering a building again or attending concerts again. Trauma work takes time and I work to meet people where they are at in their healing journey. I will adjust my approach as needed to ensure I am meeting your needs.

It is normal to have thoughts to harm oneself and thoughts to end one’s life. This is often a response to situations in which you feel like there is little to no option for changing the present feelings you have in a moment of crisis. As your brain struggles to find solutions, it offers harmful solutions that you and I can discuss and process to find alternative approaches to managing distress, pain, being overwhelmed, or severely depressed and feeling hopeless. Talking about these thoughts is best done with a professional like myself and you will not be judged for having these thoughts or treated with less dignity for experiencing a crisis.

Sleep is important for both your health and mental health and once it is being impacted is when you should start to focus on good sleep hygiene. What I mean by that is that quality sleep requires a proactive effort to adjust your behaviors so that you can improve sleep quality. In the work that I have done, sleep goals have been part of treatment goals related to depression, anxiety, stress, and trauma. Often sleep is impacted by a person’s symptoms (e.g. excessive worry, feelings of hopelessness, recurring memories of trauma, etc.) and in turn a person is then affected in their daily functioning when they are getting poor quality sleep. If we work on his goal, I aim to personalize an approach that is helpful for you.

Stress is a common reaction to perceiving situations that we feel we cannot manage or control. There will be many situations you face in your life, and learning skills to manage stress will help your mental health in the long run. When I work on stress responses and stress reduction, I work with clients on internal and external factors that impact stress levels and the perception that managing the stress or situation at hand is harder than it might actually be. We may work on reframing situations or we might work on actions you can take to reduce or manage stress.