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Who i am.

I am a queer, cisgender, white woman with Puerto Rican and Lebanese heritage. My pronouns are she/her. Originally from midwestern USA, I am now based in New England. I strive to root my teaching and clinical work in a decolonial, liberatory framework that takes into account systemic historical harm while honoring cultural and ancestral healing practices. I am interested in deconstructing Western mental health frameworks with a critical eye, asking Why? Who says? and How did this come to be?

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My background

  • NYU logo

    Graduate training

    I graduated in 2015 with a master’s in Drama Therapy, where I completed two graduate internships: first at a social-learning center for neurodiverse children in New York, and then at a large pediatric hospital in New Jersey.

    My graduate thesis explored countertransference through the lens of attachment theory and role theory.

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    pediatric specialization

    During my internship in pediatrics, I worked with children and families in pediatric intensive care, neonatal intensive care, general pediatrics, and the emergency department.

    I remained at the hospital after the completion of my drama therapy internship to acquire additional training in Child Life. I took particular interest in working with siblings and parents coping with the loss of a child.

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    trauma work

    Following graduation, I worked at a center for post-traumatic stress in Connecticut for six years. I trained in Trauma-Centered Psychotherapy, which uses imaginal exposure to treat symptoms of PTSD, under direct supervision of its founders. During this time, I provided direct clinical services to adolescents in public school settings and to adults in outpatient care.

    I also served as Director for Secondary Education for a national school-based trauma program, supervising and training clinicians and educators around the country.

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    postgraduate training

    I completed two post-graduate training programs, both in New York City. I hold a certificate in Creative Arts Therapy and Trauma from the Kint Institute. I also completed 3 years of intensive training at the Institute for Developmental Transformations (DvT).

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    Teaching

    I have taught cross-cultural awareness at New York University and the Kint Institute. I have facilitated trainings at Wilfrid Laurier University on trauma-centered psychotherapy, and Lewis & Clark University for white clinicians to explore the impact of their racial conditioning on their clinical work. I have also presented at numerous conferences for creative arts therapies.

Education

  • BA, Oberlin College

  • MA, New York University

Certifications

  • A Licensed Creative Arts Therapist is recognized by the NY State Education Department to address mental, emotional, developmental, and behavioral disorders through active engagement in the arts. LCATs are trained to practice psychotherapy as well as the use of arts-based interventions to promote healing.

  • Earners of the Registered Drama Therapist master’s-level credential hold expertise in the use of play, embodiment, projection, role, story, metaphor, empathy, distancing, witnessing, performance, and improvisation as applied to different populations, across the lifespan, in a variety of settings. RDTs use these tools to help individuals create collaborative and meaningful behavioral, emotional, or psychological change.

  • A Board Certified Trainer is the highest certification in drama therapy. It indicates a minimum of five years working and mentoring within the field, through supervision, training, and teaching.

  • Developmental Transformations is an improvisational, embodied, playful form of drama therapy where the therapist engages with groups or individuals in a mutual, transforming exploration of issues, situations and identities that are important to them. Practitioners have a minimum of 3 years of intensive practice and supervision, as well as experience as a client in DvT.

  • Kint Institute certificate recipients have completed 60 hours of post-Masters training in an integrated approach to implementing the arts in trauma treatment. This includes studying the relationship between trauma and metaphor, image, symbol, voice, and the body.