WHO AM I?
I am a clinical social worker and relational psychotherapist. I have worked in the US and in Morocco before more recently moving to Paris.
In Washington, I provided psychological counseling and day to day support to both anglophone and francophone adults and teens with severe pathologies, traumas, and addictions.
During my four years living in Rabat, I had my private practice where I worked with a wide range of individuals on an equally wide range of presenting problems (including intra-family violence, bi-cultural couples, children spread out between two countries post-divorce, extreme academic pressure on young students, etc.).
I now practice in France and still work in both English and French.
I offer psychotherapy consultations for individuals, couples, and families, as well as parental guidance. In this capacity, I am trained to accompany and support parents. For this purpose, I use Positive Discipline® -- an encouragement-based appraoch -- to help parents identify difficulties in their child, in being authoritative (strict and warm) rather than authoritarian. I also provide parents with guidance on issues related to their children's upbringing.
Having lived as an expat for 25+ years, I am a trained intercultural and global living specialist dealing with uprooting, raising "third culture kids", and cultural adjustment. Through these experiences and formal trainings, I am very familiar with issues related to life transitions of all sorts.
My clients are children, adolescents, adults, families, or couples. For more information, please visit my Services page.
my training
I am a clinical social worker by training and I hold a Master in Social Work (MSW) from the Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC.
Trained as a Positive Discipline® Parent Educator and Educator in the Classroom, I offer parental guidance to promote encouragement and more respectful relationships within the family. In this context, I offer individual or family sessions with parents, children, and adolescents.
In order to enhance the quality of my interventions with clients, I have followed continuing education trainings on various subjects such as interculturalism, suicide prevention and grief, harassment and trauma, risk behavior, and mindfulness and sexocorporal approaches, etc.
MY VALUES
I practice according to the Code of Ethics of my profession, more specifically of the French National Union of Relational Psychotherapists and Psychoanalysts (SNPPsy), of which I am a member. A copy of this code of ethics is available on demand.
I counsel each individual in strict confidentiality, taking respectfully into account one's identity, values and beliefs.
I actively listen with empathy and without judgment. Encouragement is also a pillar of my practice.
mY THERAPEUTIC APPROACH
My therapeutic approach focuses on a collaborative effort between the client and the psychotherapist.
Individuals I work with find me to be warm and easygoing. Their decision to seek out counseling and to do some personal work commands a great deal of respect on my part. I dedicate myself fully to bringing them support and solace in the situations they are facing. I focus on highlighting their strengths to enhance their confidence in their own capacities to overcome their personal challenges.
People come to me presenting problems mainly related to family or marital issues, uprooting, inter-generational conflicts, life transitions of all sorts (adolescence, unemployment, adoption, geographical move, divorce, empty nest, menopause, retirement, becoming a grand-parent/step-parent/in-law) and their associated symptoms: anxiety, OCD, depression, trauma, feelings of isolation and/or of uselessness, etc.
An initial phone conversation with a new client is an opportunity to introduce the work conditions according to the needs and availability of both parties.
Finding a satisfactory life balance and a socially gratifying place, feeling motivated again, soothing the pain or resolving conflicts, learning to -- as parent-- reinstate a fair/balanced authority over children...these are only some of the many goals I can help my clients achieve, in working with them side by side.
For more information, please visit my Services page.
My tools and Resources
My practice is mainly psychodynamic. I use relational therapy to support my clients. I interact with my clients as equals and through encouragement I foster their personal engagement into the therapy.
Family system therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy may also come into play, if the treatment requires.
My approach is therefore integrative and I use the most appropriate method to serve the needs of my client in order to increase their well-being.
Positive Discipline is also an essential resource in parental counseling.
If needed, role-playing, relaxation, or drawing are also in my tool box.
For more information, please visit my Services page.
RATES
Individual consultation (50 minutes): 85 Euros
Couple or family consultation (75 minutes): 130 Euros