| Specialties: Including but not limited to Academic Underachievement, Addiction, Adoption, Alcohol Abuse, Anger Management, Antisocial Personality, Anxiety, Behavioral Issues, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality, Career Counseling, Coping Skills, Depression, Divorce, Domestic Abuse, Eating Disorders, Family Conflict, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Intellectual Disability, Learning Disabilities, Life Coaching, Medication Management, Men's Issues, Obesity, Oppositional Defiance, Parenting, Peer Relationships, Pregnancy, Prenatal, Postpartum, Racial Identity, Relationship Issues, Self Esteem, Self-Harming, Sleep or Insomnia, Spirituality, Substance Abuse, Suicidal Ideation, Teen Violence, Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, Weight Loss, Women's Issues |
I believe creating a safe and comfortable environment for my clients is one of the most important aspect of counseling. I choose to first focus on making sure my clients feel heard, understood and accepted and then work to challenge the struggles they are facing. I find that building a strong rapport between myself and my client creates a therapeutic alliance that allows us to make great progress when working together.
Once I have learned more about my clients interests, I enj0y trying new techniques that incorporate a custom approach that utilizes those interests. My counseling style includes setting goals with my clients to best measure their growth in the presenting problems that have been faced and overcome. I have experience working with many different populations including a wide range of ages and clients of many diverse backgrounds.
I earned my Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Eastern Illinois University. My counseling experience has been in various settings including community mental health, outpatient services and a university counseling center. I consider myself to be an integrative therapist and utilize many different approaches including person-centered, cognitive behavioral therapy, humanistic approach, and existential therapy.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending quality time with my friends and my large Italian family. I find water elements to be very relaxing so I love to hike and take walks near lakes or rivers. Additionally, I lived in Arizona for twelve years and love to travel there about twice a year to enjoy the beautiful weather and eat fresh fruit off of the trees in my grandparents backyard. |