I'm a licensed therapist, ask away!

@Emily619 Great Questions!

1. Growing up, did you have a therapist?

As a young child, no. As an older child/teenager -- yes, a couple. But honestly, I do not remember why my Mom took me to them or anything that we worked on. Not saying they weren't helpful, I just don't have specific memories regarding sessions.

2. What inspired you to become a therapist?

From a young age, peers tended to come to me to help them solve problems (mainly with other peers) or to vent about their troubles. So, once I found out that I could have a career of just listening to people, I was hooked! Though, back then. . . I had a very rudimentary idea of what being a therapist actually was. When I was older, I was inspired by the quote "It is far easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men."

3. What did you major or minor in in college?

I majored in Psychology and almost minored in a) sign language, b) geriatrics, c) social work and d) accounting --- yeah I wasted a lot of time & money on classes for my minor and then one day realized that having a minor mattered very little in the big picture. I almost majored in Accounting. I really love Accounting, oddly enough -- specifically managing finances. If I wasn't a therapist, I'd like have aimed to be an CPA or a Financial Advisor.

4. I noticed you're from Alaska, and that's so cool! Have you always lived there?

My family moved up here when I was 6 months old and never looked back. I love Alaska. The cold isn't for everyone but I'm quite used to it and I feel quite "claustrophobic" when I visit other states!

5. Have you always wanted to become a therapist?

Pretty much. But as I said above, there were some times I tinkered with the idea of being in Finance/Accounting. But I wasn't in a great place in my life personally during those times and so I didn't feel I had any business working as a therapist. Luckiy, I worked with some really great therapists and made a lot of really great changes in my life.

6. What is your favorite age group to work with?

I love working with teenagers (when they are willing and motivated). Working with children can be fun but it can also be quite hard when they really don't have a good concept of what therapy is and get easily distracted by wanting to just color with me, haha . But, really with them, it's all about letting them know there are safe adults whom they can trust.

7. Do you prefer traditional or online therapy?

As of right now, traditional. But only because I've only been doing online therapy for a couple of days. So, it's not a fair comparison. As well, in traditional therapy I get the benefit of an on-going conversation vs a dijointed one that may occur in chunks throughout the day/week. And with online therapy you miss the major benefits of non-verbal communication - which is so, so important in therapy. But, I'm all for challenges!

8. Who is your favorite famous mental health expert?

Right now? Dan Siegel. I love his stuff -- has has done some great work in helping to educate parents about where their children are at developmentally and how to parent at each stage. He's written books like "The Whole Brain Child," "Mindsight" and "Brainstorm." He's really great in person too, I had the fortune of being able to see him speak about his work last month!

9. Do you hope to become a psychiatrist?

Nope. Definitely not. I have a love/hate relationship with pharmacology to be honest. There is a time and place for medications for sure but I think that many medications are overprescribed and misused. It's a slippery slope.

10. How many clients do you typically have at once?

My regular caseload generally consists of about 10 people ... sometimes less, sometimes more. I work in a pediatric clinic so there are days where I seem my "regulars" and there are days where I see 5+ other people during their well child visits or as crisis drive-by's because their parents found out they are having thoughts of suicide. So, my role is part traditional therapist, part consultant on the fly.

@snoweiey Yes, I definitely hear a lot of difficult things that people are dealing with, that's for sure

@snoweiey It depends on what you mean, haha. You can ask whatever you like, there are some things I would not answer on an open forum or in private chat depending. Being a therapist means having good boundaries and not sharing stuff that is too personal. However, in a private chat you are certainly allowed to share whatever you wish.

@snoweiey That's interesting. Honestly, not sure how to respond to that in this particular forum. But yes, sometimes people can be annoying because they talk a lot and we may be tempted to physically stop them from talking. I prefer just walking away, myself.

@snoweiey According to research, it depends on the context and/or the environment. Sometimes men talk more, sometimes women do.

@romanticthi3f -- Great questions!!

Hi! Thanks for doing this!

1. What made you want to become an online therapist?

A: Career-wise my "life" goal is to provide mental health services in a variety of ways, especially to clients who may not have access to traditional therapy for financial, physical or other reasons. This is just a really fantastic way to provide services.

2. Do you have any special interests in clients you like to work with?

A: I really enjoy working with adolescents and families but that is not really possible with online therapy so I am learning to lean into my other interests when working online. In general, I am open to working with anyone as long as I am working within my scope of practice (meaning not doing work that I am not properly trained for). I focus a lot on physical and mental well-being and looking a the "whole picture" of a person vs. only focusing on their specific symptoms.

3. Do you prefer a certain type of therapy/modality?

A: Honestly, no. Each modality that I use works with specific clients. I go with what works. I generally tend to be client-centered, utilize CBT and lean on relational framework.

4. How do you work with clients who are self-harming or suicidal since being an online therapist and in person therapist can be so different.

A: Well, knock on wood, I have yet to have an actively suicidal client online. However, I would handle them similarly to how I would handle a face to face one. Do a thorough safety assessment and if they are deemed a true threat to themselves, there are proper channels we can go through here on 7Cups to ensure we handle it ethically and legally. Self-harming clients are a different category, to me, than suicidal ones. Self-harm and Suicide generally do not coincide most of the time . . . in my experience. With self-harming clients we work on triggers, self-soothing and building other coping skills, it really depends on why they are self-harming.

@Danny6767 Cool, nothing wrong with that!

@TeamPicasso I have never worked with anyone who had a PSD service dog, no. I would not be able to make any recommendations without meeting the client and doing an intake with them, etc. A lot of things need to be taken into consideration before making any therapeutic recommendations. Sorry I couldn't better answer this question!

@Stavros07 As a therapist, I can't give specific advice on an open forum, I'm sorry. I do hope you find good support to help you through this time, though.

@Stavros07b