BIO: I am one of the current postdoctoral fellows at the TAP clinic, after recently completing my doctoral studies and clinical training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A native of the south, I have spent varying degrees of time in the Triangle Area, in south Texas in Austin and San Antonio, in Athens, Georgia, and briefly in southeast Arkansas as an educator with Teach for America. Outside of work, I love playing and making music, playing tennis, jogging, cooking, gardening, and spending time with my partner and our dog. 

 

TRAINING: I completed my undergraduate degree at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina as part of the Robertson Scholars Program. Following undergrad, I joined Teach for America and worked as a high school teacher in rural Arkansas before returning to home in Austin, Texas to begin my pursuit of higher education in clinical psychology. After a number of years in clinical research, I enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill and completed my doctoral studies under Dr. Mitch Prinstein, the American Psychological Association’s (APA) current chief science director, who helped foster my love for work with children, adolescents, families, and young adults at risk for suicide. During my time at UNC, I was part of the Royster Society of Fellows and received the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship for my research into the biopsychosocial risk factors for suicide in adolescence. In my final year of doctoral training, I completed my predoctoral internship at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas as part of the University of Texas at Austin’s Integrated Behavioral Health Scholars Program. During my doctoral training, I was fortunate to complete a two-year clinical practicum at the TAP Clinic, which served to develop my passion for Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), as well as introduced me to the excellent professional environment cultivated within the practice. Now that I have completed my PhD, I am a new hire with the TAP clinic as a postdoctoral fellow specializing in DBT-Adolescent (DBT-A), although will also continue to see clients of ages across the lifespan. 

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Clinical focus: 

• Children, adolescents, and adults who struggle with self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, acute and chronic suicidality, and risk-taking urges and behaviors

• Children, adolescents, and adults who experience mood and anxiety concerns, including co-morbid risk for personality disorders 

• Children and adolescents who have experienced acute or complex trauma and the effects of traumatic stress 

• Identity exploration and affirming care for diverse individuals across the lifespan

• Caregivers of youth with emotional or behavioral difficulties

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EXPERTISE: I consider myself to be flexible, diverse, and integrative in my clinical approach to treatment, with past training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), trauma-focused therapies, behavioral parent training, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC). My clinical training has largely occurred in the outpatient and clinical research settings, although I have experience working in acute inpatient and partial hospitalization programs (PHP) within a children’s hospital setting. My passion for clinical work largely stems from my commitment to working with individuals with acute risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, as well as often co-occurring experiences with acute and complex traumatic stress and its aftereffects. While I am most experienced working with higher-risk individuals, I enjoy working with clients with a wide range of presenting concerns and try to not limit myself as a clinician to one particular group or subspecialty. I have longstanding commitment to providing gender and identity-affirming care to my clients, as well as recent clinical interests working with neurodivergent youth and their families. In my postdoctoral work with TAP, I aim to further expand my clinical acumen in the provision of Prolonged Exposure (PE), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and couples therapy, as well as training in SPACE, the Unified Protocol (UP), and behavioral parent training for parents of high risk youth. ​

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EVIDENCE-BASED THERAPIES OFFERED: CBT, DBT and DBT-A, trauma therapies, and behavioral parent training

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POPULATIONS SERVED: Preteen and adolescents (12-17) and adults (18-65) for individual
therapy. I also serve as one of the co-leaders in the DBT-A and SPACE groups. 

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Education: 

B.A., History, Duke University
M.A., Clinical Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill