From an early age, I felt great empathy for human suffering and I was naturally drawn to helping others. As I pursued my PhD in clinical psychology, I worked in various settings, including a community clinic, for a crisis phone line, at an academic medical center, and in veterans affairs hospitals. Through this work, I was privileged to help numerous individuals of different ages and backgrounds (e.g., a college student struggling with social anxiety, a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress, a parent experiencing depression and a middle-life crisis). I feel honored every time someone entrusts me with his/her unique story and I believe helping them overcome challenges is the most rewarding experience.

We will work together to identify patterns in your life that may be preventing you from reaching your full potential. I will first prioritize getting to know you so that I have a good sense of your difficulties, your therapy goals, and what is needed to achieve these goals. Initially, therapy focuses on helping you become more aware of various thoughts and behavior patterns. We will then focus on ways of changing the patterns that you find unhelpful. Although it is therapeutic to talk about difficulties, as a cognitive behavioral therapist, I will also teach you many useful skills that you can use throughout your life to manage your emotions. Mastery of these skills will require that you practice them outside of the sessions. We will also use a self-report assessment to monitor your symptoms and ensure that we are on the right path throughout therapy.

As a professor at William Paterson University, I teach courses in the doctoral clinical psychology program as well as conduct research. In my laboratory, I have investigated such conditions as depression, anxiety, worry, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance-related problems. I found it particularly interesting that many individuals struggle with more than one of these difficulties. Therefore, in my laboratory, I aim to address why and how one disorder leads to the development of another disorder over time. The ultimate goals of my research are to inform the understanding of psychological difficulties and to improve psychological interventions. My scientific work informs my clinical practice in that I use evidence-based (i.e., scientifically supported) treatment and I stay up-to-date with current developments in the field.