About

In July of 2019 my position was eliminated along with two other administrative positions. I took some time off to think about what I wanted to do. My husband is also a counselor and during the pandemic his whole way of counseling changed and he began teletherapy. I watched him make the transition. I had thought I really didn't want to go back to an inhouse agency and teletherapy appealed to me. I wanted to be a counselor soon after I graduated from Temple with a degree in Elementary Education. I took a postion in a private psychiatric facility and ended up doing poetry with many of the clients there. I also sat in on the morning meetings and the clinical case meetings where cases were discussed. With encouragement from friends and family I applied and went to what was then Rider College. I had wonderful professors. It was very much a hands on learning by practice program. I learned a lot and made a best friend there that I am close to to this day. I was substitute teaching to put myself through my Master's Program and at the end of my program a Kindergarten teaching position became available and the Principal wanted me to apply. I did but my heart just wasn't in it I really wanted to be a counselor and I got my first position where I did my internship at Bucks County Community College filling in for someone on maternity leave. I worked in the student counseling Department and the Career Center. I taught a class. I advised students who were transferring on to another college. I loved that job. I got jobs in the substance abuse field which required me to become a fast learner of this subject and to get training. I got to be a supervisor and I had no experience in this position but I learned. I loved counseling and I always had my own caseload. I learned new techniques along the way including EMDR. I have my own paddles. I have worked with mostly clients who have a mental illness and a substance abuse disorder like bipolar disorder and alcohol disorder or Schizophrenia and Canabis Disorder or Depression and Opiate Disorder. I have counseled individuals with single disorders like anxiety or depression or Bipolar Disorder. I am not intimated by clients presenting illnesses. I want to help them and guide them to resources that will help them to cope with daily stressors better or fight off that darkness that makes them not want to get out of bed everyday. I want to help educate them about their disorder so that someone with Bipolar can recognize when a manic stage is coming on or a depressive stage is coming on so that they can contact their doctor but also use coping skills to help manage these episodes better. I have decided to go back into counseling and I have decided that teletherapy is the way I want to do my therapy. I want to work part-time for now. I am a good counselor, my clients liked me and felt I helped them. I have studied Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavior Therapy as well as Trauma based therapy. One client wrote on the agency's website that I really helped her and that was nearly twenty years ago and she still thinks about it. I was promoted to be a Supervisor around 2000. I was a good supervisor and I have a certificate to be a supervisor from CCS.