I specialize in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and extreme OCD. I also work with trauma and other mood disorders. I am open and honest with my clients about my own personal mental health struggles as I too have BPD and other mental health conditions. I use self-disclosure to help validate clients’ experiences and also dispel some of the mystique one may feel about me as a clinician. We are all equal in terms of needing help to overcome mental health challenges. Like my clients, I too have to work daily to regulate my emotions, question my perception or interpretation of things, find motivation, and just be a person.
I prefer to make sessions feel more like a conversation. I don’t type on a computer or take notes while we talk. I’ve been a client as well as a clinician, so I know how weird and uncomfortable it can be when your clinician is silent or just asked how you feel about what you just said. Thus, I try to make sessions as comfortable as possible. I am warm, laidback, understanding, and flexible. I am always honest and don’t simply tell you want you want to hear. However, my feedback is always respectful and therapeutically warranted. I don’t just talk the talk, I walk the walk everyday. I feel my sincerity and willingness to go the extra mile for my clients is evident once you meet me.
BPD comes with a set of needs and challenges unlike those of most other diagnoses, which sometimes requires communication outside of regularly scheduled sessions. I make myself available to my clients via text or phone 24/7, with some limitations and boundaries. We often feel alone and as though no one else understands what you mean when you say that emotion builds up within you so strongly that you experience a physical pain and almost become desperate to get it out. This leads to actions and behaviors we wouldn’t typically do. I am here to tell you that you are certainly not alone. As I tell all of my clients, I don’t give up on people. Clients may feel they’re hopeless and may give up on themselves, but I do not.
