Healing from Trauma & Adversity
Have you been through a traumatic experience and find it’s had a lasting impact? Maybe you’ve had recurrent memories or nightmares? You may have trouble sleeping, feel irritable or find yourself lashing out with little provocation? Or maybe like so many of us, you grew up with adversity or intergenerational trauma? Perhaps you’ve learned some coping strategies that no longer serve you.
A greater sense of peace and a healthier way of relating to the world are obtainable. Yes, things have happened to you. But you’re not a product of circumstances. You have the innate ability to heal. Let’s walk together down a path that will help you re-tell your story as that of a victor having survived tough stuff, rather than that of a victim.
I find people tend to be in one of two places with regard to healing. One is a place of willingness to better cope with difficult feelings and improve interactions with others to enhance harmony. The other is a place of readiness to process trauma in small, safe doses, balanced with soothing strategies such as mindfulness. Writing a story about what you have survived, little by little within a safe space, can be incredibly healing.
LGBT*Q+ Exploration, Expression
Are you wrestling with your gender identity? Exploring who you find yourself attracted to? Trying to determine where you fit? Are you wanting to forge a path forward that brings your expression into closer alignment with your identity? Or maybe you’re secure in your identity and want to better manage difficult feelings or relationships in a respectful, affirming space. Or maybe your child has just come out about their identity and you’re not sure how to respond?
A greater sense of clarity and congruence can be achieved. When people start asking these questions, they inevitably find answers. I love the analogy of the journey toward gender congruence as a web rather than a straight path. Sometimes development might happen in one area and at other times development or transition might happen in a different area.
As a cisgender, heterosexual woman I can never completely understand your experience. I’m not a gender specialist but am pursuing additional training and consultation around gender exploration and expression. When we work together you are the expert on your life, identity and expression. I’m here to support you as you either explore your identity, expression and transition or as you work to address other life concerns.
Overcoming Behavioral Challenges in Children
Are you raising a child who interacts with the world differently than you? Maybe they’re smart and charismatic but have trouble sticking with their school work or chores? Do you find the parenting techniques you’ve learned aren’t helping you to achieve the results you desire? Are you threatening, bribing, yelling, becoming exhausted and feeling it’s all futile?
Parenting doesn’t have to be a continual battle; even with the most strong-willed children. You can have a close, loving relationship and also motivate them to listen. Let’s get you to a place where you can ask them to set the table or take a shower without bracing yourself for a tantrum.
Each child, and each parent-child relationship, is completely unique. I harness the power of your parent-child relationship to achieve desired changes because you are the most important person in your child’s life. Together we’ll examine what motivates your child, including which rewards and consequences matter to them. We’ll cultivate your relationship to the extent they do what is asked of them (at least most of the time) out of a genuine desire to please you.
Experience
My services are exclusively online now and in the future. I’ve been offering online therapy through my private practice since March, 2020. I love connecting with people in their own environment and find it often makes therapy more accessible. You can connect with me in the comfort of your own home or even during a lunch break in your vehicle or other private space.
Between 2017 and 2020, I worked with Kindergarten through 12th grade students with exceptional needs within the schools of Tehama and Glenn Counties, in rural northern California. As a social worker, I loved being able to meet with kids in their school environments and to work with their school teams and parents to improve behaviors and relationships at school and help students better access their education.
From 2014 to 2017 I worked within the Community Mental Health setting, serving primarily youth in foster care, children, teens, young adults and members of the LGBT*Q+ community. I also worked with people struggling with exceptional perceptual experiences such as visions and voices, complex trauma, depression and anxiety. I especially enjoyed the sense of community that our team developed within a dynamic intensive day program for transitional age youth.
I began my career in the field in 2012 when I went back to school at California State University, Chico for my Master’s degree in Social Work. During that time, I completed a field placement with Northern California Child Development, Inc., the local agency providing Head Start services. There I served as a liaison between the family and the preschool classroom and began providing counseling and in-home parenting interventions.
Academic Qualifications
I add “LCSW, PPS” behind my name because I have completed a clinical license to practice social work, a Master’s degree in Social Work and a Pupil Personnel Services credential in School Social Work. These are the academic programs and licensing processes I have completed:
Pupil Personnel Services Credential in School Social Work, 2019 – present, including 450 hours of supervised experience providing school social work services in the K – 12 school setting and additional post-graduate coursework.
License in Clinical Social Work, #90756, 2019 – present, including 3,200 supervised hours of individual and group therapy as well as client-centered advocacy, passing an examination on law and ethics and one on clinical social work practice.
Master’s Degree in Social Work, California State University, Chico, 2015 – focus: Mental Health; received Mental Health Fellowship Award.
Additional Training and Consultation
Recently, I’ve accessed training and consultation around transgender care, examining racism and providing legal and ethical services online.
I have received training in Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP), the Nurturing Parenting Programs, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), Parenting Inside Out, Nonviolent Crisis Intervention, Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), Parent Café, Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT).
Associate Therapist
I’m excited to welcome a new Therapist, Shibo He, AMFT, to my practice. He has worked with clients with a variety of intense challenges and will be taking on elements of my style and approach as we work together.