Welcome! It takes motivation and courage to reach out for assistance with life’s challenges, and whether or not you feel we are a good fit, I greatly appreciate you taking time to review my profile. I am from NYC originally but spent a large portion of my life in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston and Hawaii. Aside from swimming and traveling, one of my favorite past-times is reading. Reading allows me deep insight into people and places, and for me, it is like traveling but on a tiny budget. Curiosity of the world is why I love to read, and I believe that Curiosity, Justice, Advocacy and Dialogue are parts of the foundation that created my interest in becoming a Social Worker . My road into the Counseling field has been a unique one. I began my journey in schools, training students, teachers and administrators in Conflict Resolution/Conflict Engagement skills. I also spent a significant amount of time working with youth and children within the foster care system. During graduate school, I focused on Clinical Social Work and also Inter-group Dialogue; which enhanced my skills at facilitating conversations that strive to create new levels of understanding, empathy, openness, non-judgmental relating, and action. My skills were further sharpened, while working internationally with a wide range of individuals in New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, South Africa and Egypt. After traveling for a while, I settled in Hawaii, where I am licensed. In Hawaii, I have worked mainly with adults (18 and over) experiencing great instability in various facets of their lives, such as: job/income loss, addiction, homelessness, anger management, incarceration, self-esteem issues, onset of an illness, challenges in college, exiting foster care, and loss of support systems. Though I tend to draw some from Cognitive Behavioral and Person-Centered therapies; I adapt an Integrative Therapy approach, seeing that it can be a combination of various forms of therapy that can be more inclusive, flexible and likely allowing more collaboration between client and therapist. I believe in creating an open, inviting and safe space for a dialogue that is client-centered. (Please note: I typically check messages a few times a day Tuesday thru Friday, responding within 30 hours. If you want a live session, I have them 2-3 days a week, but can be flexible so if those days/times on my schedule do not work for you, please message me and I will see if I can schedule a time that may work better with your schedule. Thank you)