My personal journey

I grew up gay in a small town with a hypermasculine father and a codependent mother. My dad taught me how to hide my feelings, and my mother showed me how to pay attention to the needs of others more than my own. The small town upbringing made me feel that my sexuality was perverse and wrong and would never be accepted. In order to survive, I became an expert at sucking it up, pleasing others, and hiding my truth. If I was “perfect”, I was safe.

It all caught up with me though. The mechanisms I had developed to cope were not sustainable. By college, I was drowning in anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsive behaviors. The deep shame and never-ending quest for perfection lead me to seek relief in booze and drugs.

With the encouragement of a friend, I made it into the office of a mental health professional. That was the beginning of a challenging but thrilling journey of insight and change. With the help of an empathetic therapist, I learned for the first time that my feelings are valid and worth exploring. Over time, we formed an alliance and did some profound work that has most certainly transformed my life.

Life, like it does, threw me many more hurdles to jump over, and I am sure there will be more to come. With the consistent support of a therapist, however, I have learned to see these hurdles as opportunities for growth.

I share my personal journey with you because it exhibits the power of the therapeutic process. It also inspired me to become a therapist and had a huge impact on my approach, areas of specialty, and overall practice.

My professional journey

I earned a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from Hunter College in New York City in 2014. My mission upon graduation was to provide mental health services to underserved populations. My first job was working with homeless and unstably housed youth at the nation’s oldest and largest LGBTQ youth agency located in New York City. The agency provided a myriad of services to mostly LGBTQ youth of color and their allies, mainly from low socioeconomic backgrounds with extensive trauma histories.

All of the tenets I learned and practiced there I strongly stand by today. Our model was anti-oppressive, intersectional, trauma-informed, gender-expansive, sex-positive, and strengths-based.

My passion was fulfilled at the agency so I stayed for six years. During that time, I held many positions including Housing Counselor, Supervising Counselor, Intake Coordinator, and Assistant Director of Health and Wellness. I provided case management and individual therapy, facilitated psychoeducational and support groups, administered HIV tests and sexual health education, provided support for clients who were newly diagnosed and living with HIV, oversaw the agency intake program, and supervised masters level interns and staff.

Upon moving to Los Angeles, I became the Wellness Counselor for New York University’s satellite campus in LA, where I provided psychotherapy and wellness programming to the student population. After that, I worked at the LA LGBT Center as a Mental Health Therapist and at Foresight Mental Health as a Mental Health Therapist and Clinical Leader.

Now, I reside in NYC and am in private practice. I provide virtual individual therapy via secure video telehealth to clients in both New York and California. I welcome people of all intersecting identities with any array of challenges. My areas of specialty are LGBTQ+, anxiety and depression, addiction, and trauma.

Education

MSW from Hunter College

BFA in Acting from New York University

Training/Modalities

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)