LCMHC

I learned about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in my mid-twenties when I went to a mind-body medical conference put on by the Benson-Henry Institute at Harvard Medical School. At the time I was living in Boston and working as a school nurse at a Yeshiva in Brookline, Massachusetts. Since I was a teenager I’d been interested in meditation and spirituality. I was also suffering from complex PTSD but did not yet have the language to understand what that was or how much of an impact it had had on my life. When I was 19, my interest in spirituality and of finding something that might help me manage lifelong panic attacks led me to a highly organized spiritual community. In a pattern I now understand to be common among “high-control” or cults; the community initially gave me a sense of hope, peace, connection, and purpose. Over time my life became rigidly controlled by the group, and for several years I wanted to leave but didn’t know how to. Around two years after finally leaving the group I found myself at this medical conference, earning continuing education credits to maintain my nursing license, and I heard Stephen Hayes (the founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) speak. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but I remember feeling like it seemed like a path without coercion, and I thought that if I’d been able to find an ACT therapist earlier in my life I might not have joined a cult.

I worked as a nurse and a ceramic artist for 12 years before becoming a therapist. As I learned more about ACT, especially once I was working with my own clients, I became more confident in the model as a flexible approach to therapy that incorporates individuals’ unique values and life experiences, while helping clients to understand and adapt to common life challenges. Most importantly, my experience has been that this approach tends to liberate individuals to be more themselves, and move forward in a direction that is unique to them; quite the opposite of my own and others’ experience of being involved in “high-control” groups, where individuality tends to be discouraged.

I maintain a counseling practice while also working with porcelain and being a full-time single parent. I am happy to work with all clients, but I maintain availability in my schedule for anyone who is coming out of a high-control or “cult” situation and needs a therapist who understands what that experience is like. When I left the group that I was a part of, my therapist at the time had no experience working with clients who were leaving cults, and I felt very alone figuring out how to take the next steps in my life. Developing my skills as a porcelain artist offered me a lot of what I think a good ACT therapist might have given me at that time; a values-guided plan, committed action, acceptance of moments of inevitable failure while moving forward, and practice staying in the present. I just missed out on a lot of processing of what had happened in the group, what it was like to leave, and the development of self-compassion for what I had been through, with someone who had had a similar experience. Without a therapist who understood what I was going through, I also felt like I missed out on giving myself a space to talk about what felt right or wrong about what the group taught, and develop a sense of my own spirituality that wasn’t prescribed by someone else.

I feel that it is an honor and a privilege to work with therapy clients, and I take that responsibility seriously. I feel grateful for the professional boundaries and rules of conduct that have created a profession that allows therapists and clients to have an close yet safe relationship. My hope is to provide unwavering support, compassion, and a little bit of structure and guidance, so that my clients can flourish in all their uniqueness.

I have a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Wake Forest University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Boston College. I work with adult individual clients (and occasionally very self-directed teenagers). My fee is $125 per 50-minute session. Sliding-scale appointments are available on a limited basis. I accept Vermont Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicare, and Medicaid.