Able 2 Help Counseling

: I have a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology (1993). I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). My license was obtained from the New York State Office of Professions to practice mental health counseling (LMHC). I am a Distance Credentialed Counselor as well. My credentialing was obtained from the Center for Credentialing and Education. Distance counselors are able to provide phone, text, chat and video counseling with clients who might not be able to come to a counselor’s office for a session. These clients might include those with transportation or scheduling difficulties, extreme anxiety, or a lack of counselors in their rural area. I have more than 15 years of professional experience as a counselor. I have worked with a variety of populations in a number of different settings including both mental health and chemical dependency venues.
Goals of therapy: People come to therapy with different needs and different goals in mind. You and I will jointly agree on a treatment plan and will re-evaluate that plan periodically in order to ensure that we are meeting the goals that we have established. Some clients will only need a few counseling sessions to achieve their goals, while others may require months, or even years, of counseling. As a client you are in complete control and may end our counseling relationship at any point. I will be supportive of that decision and will refer you to other providers or services if requested.
While psychotherapy/counseling can provide significant benefits, it may also pose some risks. Psychotherapy or coaching may elicit uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, or may lead to a recall of troubling memories. This can be a normal and necessary part of treatment in many cases. If this occurs, I am here to help you walk through these thoughts and feelings and, hopefully, find new strength, resilience, and joy in living.
Therapeutic approach: The therapeutic approach I use with clients varies according to their specific needs and according to the issues that they bring with them into our work together.
My basic approach to counseling is:

• Holistic. I focus on the whole person, mind, body, emotion and spirit.
• Strength-based. I seek to identify, draw on and enhance the positive qualities and approaches that clients already use in life and those that have helped through difficult times in the past
• Person-centered. I work in collaboration with each person letting the client take the lead in introducing aspects of life he or she would like to work on. I am calm, centered, non-judgmental, a good listener.
• Systems oriented. I understand each person as part of many systems that influence his or her life including family, friends, workplace, neighborhood, culture, race and ethnicity, sexual identity, religion and the society we live in.
• Spiritually oriented. If a person chooses to introduce spirituality, faith or religion into the counseling process, I guide him or her in exploring and developing his or her own values and religious tradition. I am open, affirming, knowledgeable and supportive of a wide range of religious traditions.
• Cognitive Behavioral. I guide each person to identify their strengths and difficulties and assist clients with learning skills and techniques to help cope with difficult emotions, feelings or situations.
• Dialectical behavioral therapy. I assist each client with learning to manage emotions in a way which increases one’s ability to get their needs met. Through the use of mindfulness exercises and by refraining from judging oneself negatively clients learn self-acceptance and love.