About

Hi, I'm Tara. I'd like to tell you a little about myself since I will be asking a lot about you! I come from a pretty dysfunctional family background with a lot of addiction and strife. So after I completed undergraduate school, I worked at a residential substance use disorder facility in Virginia, working with families of patient's there. I learned that folk with substance use issues also have depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other mental health and social skill and communication problems. This prompted me to do something I said I would never do...... go back to school. I started Graduate school in 1992 and finished in 1994 and received my MA in Professional Counseling. I worked at a CSB and did my residency there. I took both my CSAC and my LPC within months of one another and was Certified for Substance Abuse Counseling in 2000 and received my LPC in 2001 and started working for myself in February 2001. I work with adolescents, college students and adults. When I am not working, I volunteer with a cat rescue group and I take care of "bottle babies" in the spring and raise them until they are old enough to be adopted. I enjoy going to the movies, the theatre, musicals, reading mysteries, watching Netflix and prime video and cooking. I love my 7 cats and one dog.(Considering getting 2 pet rats from a rescue). I am very Client Centered, meaning - I don't think the therapy can go very far if there isn't a therapeutic connection. I work with anxiety disorder, substance use disorders, depression, Bi-Polar disorder, Parenting. If you do not make yourself a priority, you cannot be the best friend, partner, wife, husband, employee, parent, or friend, Truly, I am here to help you in whatever you are experiencing.