About
“We may define therapy as a search for value.”
– Abraham Maslow
Your life is full of loneliness and unhappiness.
You look at other people’s lives and think their life is so much more fun, exciting, and meaningful than yours. After scrolling down on your Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat for the 10th time today, it feels like everyone is happy and living their best life but you.
You wonder, “Why is this? Why can’t I be happy like everyone else?”
While scrolling on your phone, you receive an incoming FaceTime call from your best friend. You feel kind of down on yourself but decide to answer it anyway, hoping talking with her would make you feel better.
The second you accept the Facetime call, you hear your friend excitedly squeal, “I’m engaged!” You try your best to fake excitement in your voice and say, “Oh my God, I am so happy for you!” And then, you secretly wonder if your bestie could hear the slight quiver in your voice.
You question your motives.
You fake a smile for your friend, but inside, YOU ARE BREAKING, and your head is full of thoughts like, “Why them and not me?” After a few minutes, you hang up the phone, and then, you feel it – THE GUILT. You question your intentions and whether you are a good person.
Questions arise like, “Am I a rotten friend for thinking this way?” You feel trapped in your thoughts of self-doubt and blame and feel suffocated because you don’t have anybody in your life with whom you could share these feelings without being judged.
“How am I going to tell somebody that I feel jealous of my best friend for getting married? HOW can that happen without people thinking I am a bad person?”
Listening without judgment is my gift and specialty.
I am here to tell you it is OK to have these emotions. You are frustrated with where your life is right now, and that does not mean that you still genuinely do not feel happy for those around you. It is possible to handle multiple emotions at the same time and still be a good person.
No Judgment Here – I will be a person in your life to allow you to be HUMAN, and that means allowing you to have feelings that are not always gumdrops and lollipops. Sometimes, we have feelings that are more bitter and less sweet – think of fine dark chocolate or a sugar-free ganache. Guess what? THAT IS COMPLETELY 100% OK.
I will encourage you to talk about and explore all the ways you feel as we learn to understand and accept you the way you are, getting you to the oh-so-sweet place of self-love and acceptance.
I will validate your experiences and meet you emotionally precisely where you are every time we work together. I will never rush you to “the next topic” or make you feel like your opinions and emotions do not matter.
Voice how you feel.
Together, we will give all your feelings a voice – essentially giving YOU a voice and celebrate you along the way. You will start seeing and experiencing yourself in a way you have never seen yourself before.
Coming to this realization starts the journey that will lead to self-actualization and true happiness.
You will learn the key to being happy is within you and has always been in you; you only needed to connect with an experienced and skilled therapist to guide you on how to do this.
Our therapeutic alliance will give you the strength you need to power through critical thoughts and self-blame. Yes, we will evaluate these thoughts and where they originate – but it will occur under a blanket of total acceptance, compassion, and love for yourself.
It’s worth the challenge.
This work will be hard, but I will be there to cheer you on every step of the way and remind you that you accomplish this work, even on the most challenging days. You got me in your corner, Kid.
Together, we will make sense of your experiences, thoughts, and dreams for yourself. We will work together to create a new narrative full of empowerment, choices, and honest-to-goodness happiness under YOUR control during your therapy sessions.
About Me
Emotionally connecting to others comes naturally to me.
I always knew I wanted to be in a helping profession. From a young age, I noticed I had a great interest in the emotional well-being of others. At times, friends and family members told me I was “psychic” later to find out that I held great emotional empathy for others.
I noticed that when I watched movies with a so-called “Villain,” I would often ponder, “What life circumstances made them this way?” I learned feelings are complex and never simply black and white – instead, people’s life stories have a lot of grey in them.
I also wondered what could have helped these characters in their life – did they need a trusted person they could come to with their feelings and fears? If they had this person in their life, would their life story have panned out differently? I truly and unequivocally still believe – Yes!
Having empathy for others determined my career path.
Allowing myself to put myself in the shoes of others helped fuel this empathy and eventually led me to my career as a mental health therapist. My favorite thing about being a counselor is that it allows me to meet so many fabulous people from different walks of life and learn from them.
I love working with people from diverse backgrounds, whether it be busy super moms who want it all or college students working to navigate school stress while doing meaningful identity work along the way.
I graduated with a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. My training from this competitive university prepared me to work with individuals from all walks of life, backgrounds, and life experiences.
While in my master’s program, I worked at the University of Maryland, providing individual counseling for students struggling with substance use, anxiety, and depression.
My training and years of post-graduate work have equipped me to provide empathetic, nonjudgmental, and accepting therapy to so many clients – and each one is so very dear to my heart!
When not working with my clients making their lives better, you can catch me…
I love spending quality time with my three kiddos, a wonderful husband, and our pet bird, Chilly. His name is chilly because he is so chill. We got him at the beginning of the pandemic to help distract us from all the uncertainties. A year later – Chilly is our 4th child! He is learning to say, “I used to be a spy; now I am a budgie!”
Our favorite family pastime is staying in hotels in different states and sightseeing. In a busy world full of distance learning, work, and parenting, we genuinely cherish “Little Getaways,” where we can unplug and spend quality time with each other.
It is so vital to slow life down and enjoy time with special loved ones!