Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Hello, and thank you for viewing my profile. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 10 years of experience in the behavioral and mental health field. I recently moved to Florida and I am looking forward to working with families in the Sarasota and Bradenton area.

My career in social work began at The University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center, where I was involved in several research projects with children varying in ages from 15-months to 18-years old. Following my time in Michigan, I moved to Illinois and worked as a therapist in a private practice for 5-years until relocating to Florida.

My Therapuetic Approach

My interest in the helping field has been present for as long as I can remember. As a child, I was cited as the “Mother Hen” of the classroom on my preschool report card and I was often the person that my peers sought out when they were having a difficult time throughout my school years. I’ve always had a passion for helping others find different solutions to face the obstacles in their lives and I care deeply about the people I work with and how they view their personal successes.

My background includes working with children, adolescents and adults with developmental and learning disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), Selective Mutism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Depression, Anxiety, adjustment disorders, and disruptive behavior problems in early childhood. I specialize in working with children and adolescents with a wide range of struggles including: developing and maintaining friendships, emotion regulation, peer pressure, bullying, perspective taking, self-awareness, assertiveness, low self-esteem, and executive functioning difficulties. Additionally, I have extensive experience leading social skills groups for children and adolescents within schools, university-based clinics and private practices.

My approach to intervention is interactive, collaborative and supportive. I believe in integrating multiple modalities when teaching new strategies, including video clips, worksheets, and role-playing to aid in the generalization of newly acquired skills. I pride myself on customizing unique treatment strategies for each individual, using their personal strengths and interests as starting points as we work together towards reach their goals.

While working with clients, I use research-supported interventions to inform my treatment approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Solution Focused Therapy, Family Systems Therapy, principles from Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), as well as the Social Thinking Curriculum (including SuperFlex and Zones of Regulation).

Why Going to Therapy Does Not Mean that You are Weak or Flawed

I believe that going to therapy is the equivalent of learning to play an instrument or playing on a sports team. In these situations, we are looking to 1) acquire new information from someone with expertise, 2) practice or use the skills that we learned in order to improve our abilities, and 3) have greater skills than we had prior that can be used again in the future. Did you know that these are the same goals and steps used in therapy? The therapeutic process is a venue to learn, discuss, and practice core skills that can be utilized and applied during challenging situations throughout a lifetime.

If you decide that you would like to work together, I look forward to hearing from you.