About me
I’m a dedicated and compassionate therapist who can guide you to manage anxiety, overwhelm, life transitions and life stressors to transform your life one step at a time.
My guiding principles
Authenticity
Many therapists can tell you we are supposed to be “blank slates.” It’s the reason we’re not supposed to tell you things about our lives, or share too much. I’ve found being more flexible, more real, works better for me. While I will never sit here and make you be my therapist, I’m also typically not going to answer your questions with more questions (Yes, that’s what we were taught in graduate school: “What has you asking that question?” Yuck). If you want to know if I have a dog, or kids, or if I like Taylor Swift, yes, yes and yes!
Connection
I believe one of the things that makes us most human is that we all want connection. We all need people and we all want to feel understood. While I might not have experienced exactly everything you have gone through in your life, I have felt pain, I have had struggles, so I understand emotions and can connect with you on that human level. In every session, I work actively to attune to you to foster connection in whatever ways make sense in that moment.
Trust
A vital part of therapy is being able to trust your therapist deeply. To me, trust is earned. My clients often share ways they feel my I am reliable, trustworthy, and to show up without judgement, saying things like; “I know I can always feel safe here,” or “I share things with you I haven’t yet told anyone.” Recently a client wondered how I could so often know and understand exactly what she was thinking! I believe we need to feel accepted and understood to build trust in someone. And my pledge to all of my clients is to work every day to earn yours.
Hope
I have several signs hanging in my office about hope. One says “Hope is a small rebellion.” What this means to me is that if we can start with hope, we have the audacity to believe that things can get better. If you aren’t quite ready to believe in yourself, or have hope yet, I can promise to believe in you until you do. My focus is always looking for, finding, and building hope. Hope can be the foundation of making big changes to find more peace in your life.
Why I do this work
People often ask me why I’m a therapist, saying things like “Aren’t you just listening to people’s problems all day long?” or “Does talking about ourselves really change anything?” I don’t see it that way at all. I see regular people having the courage to share their stories. Everyone’s life is a sum of their experiences and the lens through which they view them. I see my job as listening and seeing these stories from an outside lens to help people better understand themselves and better cope with daily stressors, by providing feedback honed from years of working and connecting with hundreds of clients. Often this means I guide you to develop and utilize more effective coping strategies. Sometimes, you might have sessions where you just need be heard, seen and validated. Usually, it’s a combination of both. Either way, my mission is to keep listening to your stories, honoring them and helping you rewrite what you choose to rewrite and make peace with what you choose to make peace with. I promise to be here with you every step of the way.
Training & Education
Licensed Professional Counselor, State of NJ (License # 37PC00784900)
Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor, State of NJ (License # 37LC00160300)
Master of Arts, Montclair State University, August 2002
Post-Master’s Advanced Counseling Certificate, Montclair State University 2017
Experience includes: More than 20 years helping clients in NJ. Currently in full-time private practice in Ridgewood; previously seeing individual clients at a local community mental health center and several positions seeing individual clients and running groups at an inpatient and intensive outpatient mental health and drug rehabilitation centers.
Responsible for continuing education training for both licenses. 40 hours biannually.