About Me
My path to becoming a therapist was shaped by growing up helping family members navigate chronic pain and aging, as well as supporting friends who struggled with anxiety and depression as a teenager. These experiences and my own journey with chronic pain beginning in adulthood taught me how difficult it can be when your mind or body is not doing what you want it to do and how much patience, support, and persistence it can take to move forward anyway. This shaped my belief that healing is about learning to work with where you are, build on your strengths, and take meaningful steps toward where you want to be. This work matters to me because I want to offer clients the same sense of understanding and support as they navigate their own challenges and learn that they are capable of moving forward, even when it feels difficult.
I specialize in helping people navigate and work through anxiety, trauma, and chronic pain, especially post-surgical recovery, through focusing on understanding what may be keeping them stuck, building on their strengths, and developing practical skills to help them lead the lives they want. I developed these skills through years of working in a college counseling center and in private practice supporting children, teens, parents, and adults.
My Specialities
I am a licensed clinical psychologist with experience managing my own chronic pain.
I work with preteens (11+), teens and adults who are curious and looking for answers as well as skills to break the cycles they’ve been living in. My prior work has primarily been with college students and with children, teens, and families. As I navigate my own journey with chronic pain, I have shifted away from working with children, instead providing parent-focused therapies such as Supporting Parents of Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) and Parent Management Training (PMT). I primarily work with young adults looking to understand their past and move forward with a new perspective. I rely on evidence-based treatments, including CBT, STAIR-NST, CPT, and ERP when working with clients.
I am a cheerful, soft-spoken millennial who does her best to keep up with current trends and can engage in conversations about pop culture, books, and sports. I then use these references and turn them into meaningful metaphors to teach the need to practice coping skills, challenge an anxious thought, or use an assertiveness skill.
I generally try to avoid setting a rigid agenda for sessions to give you space to focus on any specific concerns that may have arisen during the week for you, but come to session with goals in mind of what to work on next based on your individual treatment plan. I always like to end sessions on a peaceful note and will either guide you through a relaxation technique or ask about any exciting upcoming plans if I know there is something you may be looking forward to.
Outside of therapy, I am an avid crocheter who loves to create flower bouquets and plushies. I have several crochet items I created in my office and use crocheting as a coping skill to regulate at the end of a long day and for in-person sessions leave space to incorporate crafting into sessions if this adds to your comfort level. On weekends, I love taking my two dogs on long walks around local parks, hosting board game nights with friends, or playing tennis. If you’re curious about my practice name, it comes from my love of Greek mythology as a child and my recognition that healing occurs when we tend to our hearth in both the internal, emotional sense and our external, social and physical sense.
Adelphi University, B.A. in Psychology
Adelphi University, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
Doctoral Internship at Hofstra University Student Counseling Center
Post-graduate training through the Gordon Therapy Group
Completed trainings for CBT for chronic pain, STAIR-NST, and Inference-based CBT for OCD
Member of NYC-Cognitive Behavioral Therapists and the Suffolk County Psychological Association