I received my Master of Arts degree
in Psychology from the
University of Houston- Clear Lake in 1992.
I am currently a Licensed Professional Counselor in the
state of Texas
with supervisor
status. My formal
education and 20+
years of experience have prepared me to work extensively with children,
adolescents, and their families.
Specifically,
I enjoy working with children, age 3 years and
up, with behavioral/conduct issues, anxiety, ADHD symptoms, attachment
issues,
mood disorders, school issues, selective mutism, and high functioning
autism. I also work
with adolescent girls with
self-esteem issues and depression.
I have
primarily focused on working with children,
adolescents, and families. My experience includes residential
treatment, crisis
intervention, assessment/diagnostics, forensics,
hospitalization/aftercare
planning and early childhood home/school based services. I have also provided
consultation and professional
development trainings in a local public school district.
My
desire is to provide the most adequate, compassionate and
non-threatening counseling experience for children and families
possible. I
approach counseling from a
cognitive-behavioral perspective and believe that behavior is a direct
result
of thoughts, emotions and environmental influences. The techniques I
use in
counseling will include, but are not limited to active listening,
observation,
assessment tools, homework, role playing, non-directed and directed
play,
parent/sibling involvement, and prayer.
I
would not be a choice as your counselor if you are seeking
services for addictions, marital issues or adult mental health, in
general. If this is
your case, I
encourage you to review specialties of other therapists at HCCC which
are
listed on their individual bios.
I have lived in the Houston
area all of my life. I
married my best
friend, John, in 1999 and we have a wonderful daughter who keeps us
very
busy. Our family
enjoys swimming, cycling,
geo-caching, traveling, and playing games.
I enjoy going to auctions, antiquing, scrapbooking, and
reading. Our family
attends The Bridge Fellowship in Sugar Land
where I volunteer in the children’s ministry as a small group leader. I am also involved in Girl
Scouting with my
daughter, and as a volunteer through Interfaith Ministries.
