Find a therapist in Lancaster, PA — covered by insurance

I work with adolescents and adults who want more than just healing and coping-I help folks connect the dots for how to live a more successful and joyful life. About half of my practice is focused on performance psychology, while the other half focuses on overcoming depression, trauma, and anxiety. Many of the people I work with are thoughtful, driven, and curious. They're not only looking to feel better-they want to know why they feel the way they do. As I often say: descriptions can validate, but explanations heal. Together, we connect the dots between your experiences, patterns, and goals in order to thrive.

I am a warm, kind, non-judgmental listener that has been through a lot of adversity in my life. Due to the hard times I have struggled to overcome I work hard to show both understanding and compassion.

I'm a licensed clinical social worker with over 35 years in social services, the last 9 as a licensed clinician. My background spans direct practice, public health, domestic violence services, and end-of-life care. I hold a Master of Social Work and a Master of Public Health. My clinical work draws from Gestalt therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and other evidence-based approaches. I also do end-of-life doula work.

My practice, Empowered Transitions Therapy, is built around the belief that transitions don't just require coping strategies. They require honest reflection, real support, and sometimes a complete rethinking of what you want your life to look like going forward.

I work with adults and couples navigating grief and loss, caregiver burnout, life transitions, domestic violence recovery, and relational conflict. I specialize in complicated grief and work with clients whose losses have been layered, unacknowledged, or unresolved for years. Much of my work centers on women who are in the middle of reinventing themselves and aren't sure yet what that looks like.

I'm direct without being cold. I ask hard questions and I sit with you in the answers. If you've been managing everything on your own and you're tired of it, this might be the right place.

I am curious and validating, providing a nurturing environment to talk openly and honestly about your struggles, strengths, weaknesses, needs, likes, and dislikes. I love helping people explore their unique and particular powers as well as how these powers impact their world and their relationships. As a passionate supporter of those who have been through unjust or otherwise traumatic experiences--including those experiencing discrimination based upon race or gender identity or sexual orientation--I am particularly interested in helping people gain skills for dealing with, and making sense of, the remnants of their pasts.

Having completed Bessel Van der Kolk's Trauma Research Foundation's Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies in early 2025, I have a strong foundational understanding of the most cutting edge approaches to treating trauma. I am also comfortable using a combination of approaches, including Psychodynamic, Gestalt, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I received an MSW from the University of Pennsylvania, a psychodynamically focused program, after which I completed Bryn Mawr's certificate program in psychodynamic psychotherapy. I have also completed 1 year of Gestalt Therapy training and the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Immersion Program.

As an LCSW, my training emphasized the role of social environment--from the family to society at large--in how we construct our narratives, enabling me to help you make sense of what in your life is yours to own and what is a product of your environment.

Uncomfortable as they may be, emotional struggles often develop for understandable reasons. They reflect what we’ve experienced, how we’ve learned to cope, protect ourselves, and navigate important relationships over time. And while these patterns may have once served an important purpose and still carry valuable information, they can also keep us tied to past experiences in ways that make it difficult to feel fully present, connected, and grounded in ourselves. Therapy can help us better understand these experiences so that we can move forward with greater flexibility, self-understanding, and connection in our lives and relationships.

I work with clients navigating anxiety, interpersonal or family conflict, life transitions, trauma, depression, OCD, and questions related to identity, relationships, and emotional meaning. I also work with individuals who are simply looking for a thoughtful space to reflect, grow, and better understand themselves.

My clinical work has been shaped by training at the University of Pennsylvania, the Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia, and experience working across multiple levels of care, including residential and intensive treatment settings.

I have been a social worker for over 20 years. I have worked with all kinds of people, birth to end of life. I believe in compassionate, but challenging care that helps people be their best self using techniques that fit the individual, not just cookie cutter interventions