aboutME
Hello there, I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of California(LCS19005) and a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in the state of Washington(LW61086617). I graduated from UCLA with a masters in social work in 1995 and with a BA in Psychology from UCLA in 1992. I have more than 23 years of experience as a licensed mental health therapist and have worked in administrative and clinical supervision in community mental health clinics, administrative and clinical supervision in the county jail system supervising a team of 25 staff including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychiatric nurses, social workers, and Marriage and Family therapists and psychiatric Technicians. I also worked in county government as a program manager. I supervised a county drug and alcohol community programs and worked to assure county program compliance. I have many years of direct practice and supervision of interns and clinicians seeking licensure in a variety of settings. I have worked with adults, children and families from diverse backgrounds. I have successfully helped clients with a range of problems including depression, anxiety, family conflicts, trauma, abuse, and addictions. I have done a lot of individual counseling, marriage and family counseling, and group counseling. I also worked with Hospice clients, crisis intervention and was a crisis team member for many years evaluating clients for danger to self, danger to others and grave disability
I am happily married and have two successful adult children and two grandchildren. I was born and raised California. I have lived in Western Washington for the past three years as part of a semi-retirement.
I am not a stranger to trauma and I see myself like many, a work in progress and in recovery but draw from my own traumatic experiences to connect and understand other’s pain and loss. I am proud to say that I overcame much in my life and love to help others overcome obstacles as I have. I didn’t do it alone and you shouldn’t have to either.
ABOUT COUNSELING
I specialize in working with people in crisis, depression, anxiety, family issues, couples’ issues, marital issues, parenting issues, trauma, addictions, and compassion fatigue.
My approach is humanistic, empathic, holistic, and the techniques I employ are empathic listening, Rogerian concept of unconditional positive regard, mindfulness, and CBT. I use concepts of family systems therapy, DBT, psycho-dynamic therapy, Solution focused therapy, and hypnosis.
I like to help teach clients skills that will help them to have success for the rest of their lives. I like to say I plant seeds that take root and help you build resilience. I am a supportive and caring therapist and really try to help clients develop a deeper spiritual connection, real lasting happiness, and a more confident sense of themselves and their strengths.
I would say that the most important component to a successful therapeutic intervention is the counseling relationship. Rapport, trust, and communication are key. So, it is important that the client be honest, curious about different ways to see things. Don’t be shy about telling me if I do or say something that bothers you or question. I am not here to judge but rather to help clients examine and accept themselves without self-judgement. It’s also important that the client do the work and most of that is done outside of the therapy session. After all, the therapist is a guide, a coach but the client makes the changes. The course of counseling depends a lot on where you are as a client. Usually the first few sessions are about getting to know one another. I can provide tools and be more directive or I am happy to be a good listener and delve into deeper childhood/family of origin issues. I recommend weekly sessions for the first 2 to 3 months and then we evaluate progress and re-asses your needs.
Something you should know about working with me is that this work of being a talk therapist is very difficult in the sense that it requires a lot of attention, compassion, and being emotionally present and calm. To that end, I am blessed to be in the position to not have to work full time. I think trying to be a full-time therapist is for most of us virtually impossible given the concept of compassion fatigue. So, for the benefit of the client and myself, I limit my work with clients to no more than 20 hours a week. I think that makes me more effective, the client gets the better more compassionate me.
Couples counseling is something that I find challenging but I also find it extremely rewarding. I feel it to be the most effective way to treat because there is a synergy between the individuals and the relationship. There is this universal truth that what I do for the individual also benefits the couple and what I do for the couple also benefits the individuals. So, there is this win win…win!
A word about virtual counseling. I have done a lot of in person counseling over the years and since the pandemic I was forced to do virtual counseling. I was like most, skeptical at first but have found that it’s about 90% as good as in person counseling but without all the negatives. It’s safer, less stressful, less expensive, and less time consuming for both the client and the therapist. That being said, I don’t think I will ever go back to in person counseling.
I look forward to working with you!
Cary