I did not begin my career as a mental health counselor. I originally sought a career as a highly trained classical singer in order to teach this art at the university level as a professor. During my education and years teaching at the college level, I discovered the importance of mental health in both the lives of my students and in myself. I came to understand how mental health affected their ability to believe in themselves and their ability to reach their potential both as a student and as a person. Through these experiences, I felt that I may be of use to assist people to find their life worth living in order to find and reach their own potential in life. I became a therapist because I perceive this path to be my life worth living. I firmly believe that mental health is an intersection between mind, body and spirit. This belief led me to become a Cognitive Behavioral and Dialectical Behavioral Therapist. I believe that at times our assumptions and interpretation of our thoughts, emotions and experiences can contribute to emotional suffering and interfere with our relationships with the people we love. As we try to do the best we can to cope with these problems we can also lack the tools necessary to effectively solve these issues. The tools that CBT, DBT and RO DBT provide are proven to be effective and are evidence based therapies. They are holistic approaches that support the challenge of acceptance and change. As I believe that addressing the whole person is essential in therapy, I am a secular therapist that works with any form of spirituality, belief or lack of belief. I currently offer individual and group counseling to adults (18+) using Cognitive Behavioral and Dialectical Behavioral therapy approaches. In the past 12 years, I have worked with a wide variety of clients and issues in both individual and group therapy settings. Shelterbelt Counseling LLC currently offers skills based DBT that is adherent to the Linehan model that treats under control disorders such as Borderline Personality Disorder. We will be starting a comprehensive RO DBT program in January 2024 for clients with overcontrol disorders. These include depression, anxiety, mild autism spectrum disorders, eating disorders, OCD personality disorder and maladaptive perfectionism. I have completed the following training courses through Behavioral Tech and other Linehan adherent training sites for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. My trainers were Randy Wolbert, Dr. Alexander Chapman, Dr. Ronda Oswalt Reitz, Elizabeth Cohn Stuntz, Dr. Sara Schmidt, Dr. Melanie Harned, Dr Thomas Lynch, Kirsten Fritsinger and Heidi Ison. DBT Skills DBT Foundational DBT Intensive DBT-SUD for addiction behaviors DBT-Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE) for trauma Coping with Cancer: DBT Skills to Balance Uncertainty with Hope Ethics of DBT Case Conceptualization DBT with Autistic Adults Radically Open DBT (RO DBT) Level 1 Radically Open DBT (RO DBT) Level 2 Radically Open DBT (RO DBT) Level 3 Practitioner I am also in the certification track for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy through the Beck Institute and have completed CBT-Essentials, CBT for Work-Life Balance and CBT-Anxiety. I have completed Trauma Focused CBT (TF-CBT) training. If you would like to become a client and your insurance is not listed, please contact me. Upon request, a Good Faith Estimate of services may be provided in accordance with the No Surprises Act if you are requesting self-pay arrangements for services.