When individuals experience trauma or any life stressor, it is not uncommon to feel like our lives are unraveling. It can become challenging to figure out what is right and wrong in our lives. My goal is to be the person that “sits in your passenger seat and helps you to explore which road you’d like to go on.”
I have a passion for working with children, adults, families, and couples. I have experience in: personality disorders, anger management, anxiety, depression, adjustment-related issues, grief, health, social skills, and stress management.
I believe that if you are ready for the next step, there is no stop to the change you can accomplish. I tend to practice from a client-centered approach, but I also enjoy using a variety of therapeutic approaches to give each client a unique experience. I believe that being non-judgmental, showing empathy, and being unbiased can allow individuals to continue to grow on their path.
My clinical training includes assessments, individual therapy, family therapy, and couple work.
My educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Western Illinois University & Master of Science in Clinical-Community Mental Health. You can reach me directly at 708.407.0969 or [email protected]!
Theory of Change
● As I progressed in the mental health field, I began with a person-centered approach (Carl
Rogers) using empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence (genuineness) to
allow the client to take me where they would like. As I progressed my knowledge of
theories as well as my understanding, I began to incorporate and understand the reasons
that fall back behind a person. What the individual may stand for, but also what they
represent to themselves.
As I am in this part of my training, I am incorporating more of the psychodynamic
approach (Sigmund Freud) with each client. The alliance within the client/therapist
rapport allows them to work together (transference and countertransference), as well as
the topographic model around the idea of the conscious, the preconscious, and the
unconscious.
● Around the topographic model there is the conscious part of the mind that holds
information that you’re focusing on at this moment (what you’re thinking and feeling
right now). The Ego that develops between our unrealistic view and the real world. It is
described as the decision-making portion for oneself.
○ The preconscious contains material that is capable of becoming conscious but is
not conscious at the moment because your attention is not being directed toward
it. The superego is the values we hold as well as learn throughout our life that we
hold onto.
○ The unconscious contains anxiety-producing material (sexual impulses,
aggressive urges) that are repressed and are being held outside of the conscious to
protect yourself from uncomfortability. The ID is inherited as well as the
biological components that play a part in an individual's personality.
Some of the ideas that come with regarding the vehicle of change is the unconscious mind.
● Our biological components as well as the values that we hold come into conflict that is
shown through our unrealistic view of the world (personality). This comes to us as an
anxious feeling that makes defense mechanisms.
Why do people change?
Sigmund Freud described how our mind is divided into three different parts that create
interactions and conflicts that help us create a personality (Id, Ego, Superego). When thinking of
how people “change”, it brings the word fear to mind. Fear of what the change will look like, but
also what change will accomplish for ourselves. Change can be a fear, but it can also be a path
for a new life to occur. I believe people can change by acknowledging fear and using themselves
in understanding who they are. We are the tools we need to understand our past, present, and
future. I believe parts of our past come to align and identify who we are. Those can transform
into habitats we tend to acknowledge yet not change. Understanding, willingness, and
uncomfortability are areas where we can use them to change our outcomes in life. Having an
understanding of what has happened in past experiences, and the unconscious mind of our id,
ego, and superego can allow us to challenge them. Having willingness allows you to be
vulnerable with yourself and have someone be your passenger in your story. While
uncomfortably can be a challenge in itself, allowing yourself to be true to oneself as well as habit
transformation can be a process of recognition of oneself. Those feelings, motives, and the
decision-making process can be influenced by past experiences that led us to have them intact in
our unconscious mind. Mindfulness and allowing the client to be in an area of non-judgment
provide an opportunity to remember the traumatic experiences, and the vehicle of change that
can occur. Coming to seek therapy takes a process that allows you the time and change to
happen. The theory allows us to view our behavior as caused entirely by unconscious factors
over which we have no control.