As a licensed marriage and family therapist I am dedicated to providing services to families, couples, and individuals from a systemic viewpoint. This means that I look at a family as more than a group of individuals. Rather, I see you and your family as a unique and complex interaction of relationships. I strive to help each family identify their special strengths and abilities so that they may utilize these gifts to build, grow, and maintain healthy relationships. Below you will find several policies and procedures necessary to begin a working relationship together. Please read through this information and ask any questions you may have. Length of sessions — Sessions will typically run for 50 minutes, but may vary depending on the nature of the case. If you are unable to keep your appointment kindly give 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule your appointment time. Less than 24 hours notice will leave you responsible for payment for your missed session. Confidentiality — The information shared with me is treated with the utmost respect and confidentiality. Your information is be protected by state and federal law as well as the ethical standards of my licensing body, the North Carolina Marriage and Family Therapy Licensure Board. Exceptions to confidentiality are when 1) I believe that you are a danger to yourself or others 2) When I believe a child or elder has been or will be abused or 3) when I have been subpoenaed by court order to release information. In any other incidences you must sign a release of information in order for me to communicate with another organization or individual regarding you or your family. Evaluations/Testing — The goal of our therapy sessions is to provide support to families, couples, and individuals as they move toward recovery, development, and maintenance of healthy relationships in their lives. With this in mind, it is important to maintain a neutral environment where all family members feel safe and are able to express emotions freely. Therefore I do not provide evaluations or testimony in matters of custody or separation and divorce proceedings. If you desire such services your lawyer can aid you in obtaining references for those services. Additionally I do not provide intelligence, educational, or career testing. I also do not prescribe medication. Referrals are given for these services as needed.

My specialty is working with women who are experiencing stress and anxiety. I work with them one-on-one in individual therapy, or with their spouse/partner for couple therapy, or with their families for family therapy. I offer sessions Monday-Thursday in the afternoons and evenings, mostly between 3:00pm and 9:00pm. I also have some Saturday sessions available in the mornings and mid-day. All sessions are available in 15 minute increments of time. This is different from other local therapists, who tend to only offer 50 minute sessions (often ranging from $100-$200- definitely not my rates). You get to determine the length of our sessions, whether it’s 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour or even longer! I let my clients choose the lengths because you know your time and financial demands best. This allows you to get support in a way that doesn’t add more stress to your life. For example, we can schedule a session between the time you get off work and the time you have to pick up the kids from day care or soccer practice- meaning you don’t have to spend extra on a babysitter. Or, if you know that you can only spend $100 a month on therapy, we can work together on a plan that allows us to have weekly contact with each other to give you the support you need, while staying within your budget. In my practice, I strive to be real. No stiff atmosphere. No hiding behind a clip board taking notes. No phony, trite phrases that you’ve heard over and over from others. When you walk in to the office, the waiting room looks much like a living room, except there’s no TV! The rooms that we work in are also similar to what you’d see at home: lamps and comfy chairs (I made sure of that) and little homey touches throughout. For instance, most of the artwork inside the office has been done by our family members. You’re invited to slip your shoes off and nestle between the couch cushions for our sessions! I try to avoid wearing shoes as much as possible, so I’ll join you in taking off my shoes! During our sessions, we’ll laugh. We may even share a few tears together. It’s a mutual “conversation”- so don’t be shy! If you feel differently about something, I want to hear it! You’re the expert on your life, and together we’ll work to find what best meets your needs. I also strive to end each session on a good note. You’ll have your own personal “cheat sheet” of what to do between then and our next session. That “cheat sheet” is a guide during the hard times. So if you find yourself waking up with a pit in your stomach, the cheat sheet has the things we talked about during our last session that will help you to know what to do. Then you can share how that worked and we can tweak it so you have your very own personal plan that’s just for you. I look forward to hearing from you!