I earned my license to practice therapy as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC), at the Associate level in July of 2017, issued by the North Carolina Board of Licensed Professional Counselors.
I earned my full license as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) on July 1, 2021, license #13307.
I graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Minor in Business from State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. As an undergraduate I worked as an aid for two years on the mental health units of a hospital and also joined the University at Albany’s Middle Earth Peer Assistance Hotline Program where I was trained as a counselor in issues of suicide, rape, substance abuse, and sexuality. As a result of my academic achievements, I was granted membership in Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology.
I continued at SUNY at Albany to complete a master’s degree in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling. My master’s degree practicum placement was as Counselor in a 14-bed adolescent chemical dependency residential program. My internship was as Counselor in a 54-bed adult male chemical dependency residential program.
After graduating, I worked for nearly seven years with individuals with blindness and visual impairments as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, and another five years as a trainer for legally blind small business entrepreneurs.
During this same period, I ran a social anxiety peer support group for seven years. We met weekly and sometimes bi-weekly to discuss ways to overcome social anxiety and depression.
While I enjoyed working in vocational rehabilitation, I decided that I truly wanted to work full time as a mental health counselor. I began working towards becoming a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC), which I started in July of 2017.
Since earning my license, I have worked for three mental health agencies providing therapy to adults, children, and adolescents on a wide range of mental health issues including depression, anxiety, social anxiety, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Autism, ADHD, adjustment disorders, sexual abuse and trauma to name a few. I switched to my own full time private practice in 2021.
In November 2017, I attended a workshop with Dr. David Burns and became a Certified TEAM-CBT Therapist with the Feeling Good Institute. Dr. Burns is one of the pioneers in CBT and trained directly under Dr. Aaron Beck.
I have also completed the Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist training in 2022, and I enjoy working with those on the spectrum.
My latest OCD training was a 4-day intensive in 5/2023 on Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD with the Cognitive Develpoment Institiute.
I have recently begun some self-training on Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (not yet officially recognized in the DMS) which often occurs with ADHD, and at first can look like social anxiety, but needs to be treated differently.