Welcome

How long have you been practicing?

I have been practicing for 6 years including practicums in graduate school, an internship in medical family therapy at the primary care clinics at UTMB Galveston, 4 years at a residential treatment facility for adolescent boys and their families, and 2 years in private practice.

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What licenses do you have?

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

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Do you work with LGBTQ+ clients?

YES! From my first session in practicum until now I have worked with LGBTQ+ clients and even helped start the first transgender youth therapy group at a UTMB primary care clinic. Working with LGBTQ+ clients has always been a passion of mine as I find that there are not enough LGBTQ+ informed therapists in the state of Texas.

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Do you provide religious/Christian based therapy?

I do not personally offer this style of therapy, but I am always happy to include each client’s religion and spirituality into therapy as the client sees fit.

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Why did you become a therapist?

My journey to becoming an LMFT is a bit of long and winding journey. I decided to become a therapist after volunteering at the Brooke Army Medical Center (now San Antonio Military Medical Center) in high school and spending countless hours working with military members and their families. I quickly realized that there was nowhere near enough mental health support for military members and that there was even less support for their marriages and families.

From there I started my journey to getting my B.S. in Psychology from Texas A&M with the thought that I would specialize in sex therapy and work with couples and adult individuals. During my time at Texas A&M I joined the Student Counseling Center’s HelpLine and received training to answer calls that ranged from simple questions about how things worked or where things were on campus to suicidal ideation or suicide attempts in progress and everything in between. I will admit that I am biased, but I strongly believe that HelpLine is one of the greatest programs/services that Texas A&M has to offer and it allowed me to find another passion of working with suicidality and depression.

I then attended the University of Houston – Clear Lake for my M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy. I had every intention of continuing on to become a sex therapist until my first client in practicum made me realize how much I enjoyed working with depression, sexuality exploration and understanding, and adolescents and their families. From there, I completed my internship with UTMB in Galveston practicing medical family therapy in their primary care clinics. It was an absolute delight to return to the medical field after my time with BAMC and this is where I received training in psychopharmacology and assessments.

After my internship, I returned to my love of working with depression and adolescents/families at a residential treatment facility for adolescent boys located in a beautiful ranch setting. This is where I gained significant experience working with trauma, anxiety, depression, family systems, and suicidality. This is also where I met my future business partners and through our work together at the treatment facility, we decided to form our own group practice where we could offer more extensive services to our communities.

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What type of clients are you most excited to work with?

I enjoy working with a wide variety of clients, but I am always excited to work with individuals struggling with depression and suicidality, sexuality and gender exploration, and PTSD/trauma. I particularly enjoy working with clients who prefer a more relaxed style of therapy where we can meet each other as humans working together rather than a therapeutic hierarchy. I also utilize a lot of humor in sessions and I enjoy clients who utilize a lot of humor and pop culture in their understanding of themselves and their struggles.

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What will our first session look like?

Our first session is about quickly going over practices policies and ethics, answering any questions you may have about therapy, and then exploring what brought you to therapy and what your goals are for our time together. The most important part of the first session is developing rapport and making sure you feel like we are a good fit and that I am addressing your goals and concerns effectively.

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How should I prepare for our first session?

The first session is all about getting to know each other and getting a basic understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish in therapy. If you would like to prepare ahead of time with questions you may have for me or a more structured outline of what you are struggling with/want to accomplish, that’s great. If you simply want to show up and we take it from there, that’s great too. Ultimately, showing up to your first session with a new therapist can be anxiety producing, so the most important thing is that you’re prioritizing your health by taking this first step and showing up at all.

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What will regular therapy sessions look like?

Therapy sessions look different for each client based on what goals we are working towards. Oftentimes, at the end of the previous session we will discuss the direction we want to go in for the next session. Otherwise, sessions are driven by the client and what they want to discuss or work on in that particular session. Either way, I believe that my clients are experts on their lives and needs so I will follow their direction as to what they need from me in that moment.

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How long does your average client work with you for?

This varies greatly depending on the therapeutic goals of each client but a typical length of time is between 3 and 6 months.