Licensed Associate Counselor (LAC)

Hello, be most welcomed!

I am a therapist (LAC) with broad overseas experience and over 10 years of therapeutic practice. My career has a broad spectrum of expertise, going from grief and attachment to disgust-related issues. It started with my work through relationships and families when I did my graduate course in Systemic Therapy, and evolved to integrate psychological processes like attention and emotion in my MA in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - my project was a DBT intervention in ADHD.  My work integrates emotional processes and relationships, which means that I try to create the most caring and encouraging environment for my clients to develop them to the fullest. Being Brazilian-born, I also speak Portuguese fluently and have worked with multilingual couples and families.  I am very fond of developing people and encouraging them, which was a particularly helpful approach to young men and for helping other therapists.

A bit about my approach to therapy

Above all, expect honesty. my work is rooted in the principles of Care, Courage, and Truth; from which I try to develop the best working relationship with the Client,(you) so you can grow in the way that is your own, not mine. My work starts from a welcoming environment, and we build the foundations to address the emotional and behavioral issues that are necessary. More technically, my main therapeutic approach is Systemic, which I integrate Humanistic, Dialectical, Contextual Behavioral, Behavioral, Mindfulness, and Emotionally Focused elements as necessary for each case. My approach is heavy based on basic psychological processes - bottom-up approach.

What you can expect from our first session

Expect that we will work together to create a true and authentic alliance between us, so you can make this therapeutic process your own, and work through your objectives and needs from there. I will ask for your honest input about the process to make it in a way that helps you. Also, expect that I will try to understand what you need, and will help you investigate possible causes and patterns of problems, including medical ones, which may mean a more investigative tone in the first few sessions.