My passion in life has always been being supportive and helping others achieve their goals.
I am a retired first responder and have had a front row seat to trauma events. Through EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) I help clients move forward from distressful experience, whether it's from childhood abuse, domestic violence, military deployments, or being a first responder.
I am Shapiro trained in EMDR to specifically help clients with their traumas and reducing the emotional responses to them. I am actively working with clients who are experiencing symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to childhood traumas, serious medical conditions, domestic violence, car accidents and numerous other intense events, to reduce their emotional responses to those events. To watch the shift in their thoughts from EMDR therapy is truly amazing.
I used Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to teach clients how to manage intense emotions, suicidal ideation, and learn effective coping skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and mindfulness.
I have countless hours of training and experience with trauma focused care, child abuse, domestic violence, mindfulness, substance use, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and many other mental health conditions.
I encourage clients to use mindfulness, grounding skills, and self care to help create balance ad peace in their lives. For me, self care is playing with my Labrador retrievers, being outside in nature, traveling as much as I can, and photography. All of the photos on this page are my own.
Education:
Masters Degree in Social Work - University of New England - 2016
Masters Degree in Public Safety (forensic psychology) - Saint Leo University - 2017
Bachelors Degree in Psychology - Saint Leo - 2013
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) - Shapiro trained - 2019
FSU Trauma and resilience certification - levels 1 and 2 - 2022
Past member - Tampa Bay Regional Critical Incident Team