Areas of Expertise

OCD is mental health disorder that is composed of intrusive thoughts, feelings, or images that cause significant distress and lead a person to engage in some kind of compulsive behavior, mental ritual, reassurance, or avoidance to provide relief from that distress.  The person feels trapped in the cycle that continues between obsessive thinking and compulsive behaviors.  I treat OCD with a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).  It is evidence based and known as the gold standard treatment for OCD.  I am also beginning to integrate Inference Based CBT into my work for OCD, which has many studies proving it to be as effective as ERP in treating OCD.  In addition, I am also trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Inference Based CBT.  I have been trained by Dr. Randy Frost and Denise Egan-Stack, LMHC and have specialized in OCD treatment since 2016. You can learn more about OCD and it's treatment here.

Hoarding Disorder is a mental health diagnosis where individuals have great difficulty parting with their belongings and things begin to pile up so that they are unable to use spaces in their homes as intended.  I treat hoarding disorder with Cognitive Behavioral approaches and harm reduction.  I work with people to better understand what has contributed to the clutter in their homes, identify their own personal goals for their living spaces, and make progress toward those goals.  I have been trained by Dr. Randy Frost, an expert in the field, and have been doing specialized work around hoarding disorder since 2017.  My preference is to work with people around Hoarding Disorder over video telehealth so that they can be in their homes while we work. Learn more about Hoarding Disorder here. 

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an evidenced based treatment proven to help people recover from trauma and PTSD symptoms.  Through the treatment we will briefly focus on the trauma while applying bilateral stimulation with eye movements and/or vibrating paddles.  The aim is to reduce intensity of PTSD symptoms, shift negative beliefs associated with the trauma, and feel less impacted by the trauma on a day to day basis.  I have been trained since 2016.  At this time I only practice EMDR in person in my Amherst office.  You can learn more about EMDR here.