A Note to Parents and Caregivers

If you’re here reading this, I know one thing is for sure: you love your kid. You want them to live a healthy, happy, fulfilled life, and maybe you’re feeling stuck on how to help them get there. I get it, I’m a parent too. That means I also know you want to feel confident that your child’s mental health is in the hands of someone who truly knows what they’re doing.

I have been working with kids and teens for well over a decade. Before becoming a therapist, I worked in education and youth-centered nonprofits focused on helping kids and families build healthy futures. During and after my social work degree, I spent seven years working in community mental health providing therapy to kids, teens, and families. My work focused on supporting emotion regulation, anxiety management, and growth and healing following extreme trauma.

You may be here because your child has gone through a significant trauma—perhaps a loss, abuse, or extreme bullying that has left lasting effects. I am a trained provider of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), an evidence-based treatment for kids and teens who have experienced trauma. I blend this approach with play and expressive arts to help young people and families return to a place of balance.

Or you may be here because your child is beginning to explore their identity. Maybe they’re using words like trans or nonbinary, or trying out different pronouns, and you’re wondering how best to support them. I’ve trained with the Ackerman Institute’s Gender & Family Project, focusing on transgender and gender-expansive youth. This work is close to my heart. I take an affirming, supportive stance and move at a pace that respects your child’s safety, self-awareness, and individual needs.

Currently, I am a candidate in psychoanalysis at the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis. My training emphasizes an interpersonal lens—believing that our relationships are the biggest influences on our emotional well-being. For kids and teens, this often means exploring the role of peers, building confidence to handle tricky social dynamics, and strengthening family communication. (And no, your child won’t be lying on a couch free-associating like in Freud’s day! We’ll talk, play, make art, and even laugh together so therapy feels safe and engaging.)

Maybe you’ve always trusted therapy, or maybe sending your child to “a shrink” feels new and intimidating. Either way is okay. I’ll move at your family’s pace, balancing your child’s privacy and independence with your vital role as their parent. Sometimes this means family sessions, sometimes parent check-ins—always with the goal of helping your child feel better and move toward their goals. Above all, I want to hear from you too.