I grew up on Long Island, just about an hour outside of New York City, and 30 minutes from the beach, a favorite weekend spot with my family and friends.

In high school, I discovered that I loved learning languages and took both Spanish and French courses. I found it fascinating to think about how our brain makes meaning out of words, and how the words we use can influence or shape our experiences. I also enjoyed writing poetry in these languages.

I moved from Long Island to upstate New York to become an undergraduate at Colgate University. There, I studied psychology and Spanish, and researched the relationship between our gestures, which are parts of language themselves, and our emotions. I spent a semester studying in Madrid, where I lived with a family and took all of my classes in Spanish at a local university.

After graduating, I moved to Boston, MA to take a position as a Research Assistant at McLean Hospital, home to the world’s largest private neuroscience and psychiatric research program. I had the opportunity to work with individuals coping with challenges related to anxiety and substance use.

This experience solidified my desire to pursue my doctorate in Clinical Psychology. With yet another move, I came to Ohio where I began the doctoral program at Miami University. As my training and personal experiences have grown, my passion for the mental health field has strengthened.

As a therapist and a human, I believe in the power of embracing vulnerability, nurturing our strengths, and allowing discomfort at times to cultivate the changes we want to see. I also believe in facing challenges with authenticity along the way, including exploring our emotions and thoughts with openness and curiosity, and sometimes a sense of humor and laughter.

My work also allows me to continue to think about how we use language every day. This includes the ways we frame or reframe our experiences, label our emotions, share our thoughts, and convey nonverbal cues. I love to understand how these can shape our experiences both internally and with others.

I feel grateful that clients allow me to be a part of their journey – the ups, downs, and everything in between, and one of my favorite parts of this work is connecting deeply and personally with my clients. In doing this work, I believe in the importance of validating and welcoming a space for all aspects of my clients’ experiences and identities, and how these may intersect in their lives.