Welcome! I am grateful you are here. Starting therapy can be an intimidating process. Congratulations for making yourself a priority and taking these first steps toward personal growth and change. As a therapist, I walk side-by-side my clients on their healing journey. Utilizing an integrative and collaborative approach, I believe you, the client, to be the expert in your own life. By working as a team, we can focus on deconstructing obstacles and overcoming barriers so you feel less stuck, promoting a more authentic, positive quality of life. 

I bring active listening, empathy, and grace into the therapeutic space. Allowing clients to get vulnerable in a safe environment. The relationship between counselor and client must be a strong alliance based on mutual trust, honest communication, and feelings of safety. According to research “therapeutic rapport” is the factor most likely to create positive outcomes from therapy. Therapy is not just an appointment you have once a week. Clients need to work on themselves outside of therapy to produce sustainable change and growth. 

With great compassion and curiosity, I specialize in working with adolescent (15+) and young adult women. These are times that many in these groups endure a lot of challenges: including, anxiety, stress management, depression, life transitions, relationship issues, body image problems, low self-esteem, disordered eating, management of chronic illnesses, and substance use/abuse/addiction. Through partnering with my client, I create individualized, holistic, and integrative treatment plans. Using a psychodynamic approach informed by approaches such as client-centered, feminist, strengths-based, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), harm reduction, motivational interviewing (MI), DBT, Internal Family Systems, and Somatic Interventions, I help support my clients to make changes that positively impact the trajectory of their lives. My goal is to instill in each client that there is always hope.

Experience

I attended DePaul University and graduated in 2016 with a major in Addiction Studies. In 2020, I completed my Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Northwestern University. I earned my CADC (addictions license) in 2009 and later on added Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) to my repertoire. I am a therapist and fellow here at Balanced Awakening and look forward to seeing some of you virtually or in-person soon.

Licensure

I am a Clinical Fellow at Balanced Awakening, completing the final steps toward LCPC licensure. I have several years of clinical experience and I am currently accruing additional supervised practice to be eligible for the LCPC credential in Illinois.