Who I Am:
My grandmother earned a doctorate in education at a time when very few women did.She spent her career teaching teachers how to help the kids everyone else had written off — especially the kids who were told they would never learn to read.And she taught me the idea my entire practice is built on: Behavior is communication.
When a child is melting down, refusing school, shutting down, acting out, not grasping a concept, or isolating, they are not just “being difficult.”
They are communicating something.
There is usually something underneath the behavior.
It might be anxiety.
ADHD.
Autism.
A learning difference.
Trauma.
Or a skill they have not learned yet.
So my job is not just to stop the behavior.
My job is to understand what the behavior is trying to tell us — and then help that person get their needs met in a healthier, more effective way.
And I understand this from the other side, too.
I had serious anxiety as a kid.
I saw therapist after therapist and psychologist after psychologist. Many of them meant well, but they missed what was really going on.
They did not know how to diagnose it clearly. They did not know how to treat it effectively.
Until one finally did.
And that changed everything for me.
That was the first time I understood what good treatment can do for a person.
It does not just reduce symptoms.
It helps you understand yourself.
It gives you hope.
It gives you your life back.
And I decided I wanted to do that for other people.
Maybe that is why you are here.
Maybe you have been told, “It is just anxiety.”
Maybe people have told you to stop overthinking.
To calm down.
To grow out of it.
Maybe you have sat across from professionals who never quite understood you.
And maybe, after a while, you started to wonder if the problem was just… you.
It is not.
Your symptoms are not your personality.
They are not a character flaw.
They are signs that something real is happening — and with the right treatment, things can get better.
My grandmother helped “unteachable” kids become readers.
I come from the same stock.
I do not believe people are lost causes.
I believe behavior is communication.
And when we understand what the behavior is trying to tell us, we can use evidence-based treatment to help people feel better, function better, and get their lives back.