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My Approach
I approach each therapeutic interaction from the perspective that you are the expert on yourself and your experiences, and I trust in your innate wisdom. I pull from my diverse educational and experience background to best meet the needs of each person I work with, and your short- and long-term goals will be our focus. And, if you’re not sure what your goals are, that’s ok! They will likely become more clear over time. Your path to wellness may include eliminating some of the sources of your stress, developing healthy coping strategies, and/or shifting thinking patterns and lifestyle. For more information about the modalities I use, please see my services page.
Education and Experience
As a mental health counselor, my ultimate goal is to help individuals optimize mental and physical well-being. Some of areas I specialize in include the treatment of eating disorders and weight challenges and the use of mindfulness, biofeedback and DBT to improve both mental and physical health. The interconnectedness of the mind and the body has been a long time interest of mine, which ultimately motivated me to pursue my master’s degree in Health Psychology at Appalachian State University. My graduate research was on Fat Talk (Britton, Martz, Bazzini, Curtin & LeaShomb, 2006), and my internships afforded me the opportunity to implement neurofeedback, biofeedback and stress management in private practice and medical settings. I graduated with my Master of Arts in Health Psychology in 2005.
In my 14 years in the mental health field, I have worked with adults, adolescents, children, families and couples in community mental health, private practice, medical and residential settings. I am strongly oriented towards the recovery model and have had extensive training and experience in helping individuals recover from eating disorders. I have treated eating disorders in the outpatient, intensive outpatient and residential settings and am adept at determining when someone is in need of additional types of support or a higher level of care. I provided nearly a decade of service with The Carolina Resource Center for Eating Disorders (formerly T.H.E. Center for Disordered Eating) in Asheville, North Carolina which included serving on their board of directors in 2015. I’m licensed by the Florida Department of Health as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (license #MH14630), as well as the North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (license #17225).
Professional Memberships
- American Counseling Association
- International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals
Publication
Britton, L. E, Martz, D. M., Bazzini, D. G., Curtin, L. A., & LeaShomb, A. (2006). Fat talk and self-presentation of body image: Is there a social norm for women to self-degrade? Body Image: An International Journal of Research, 3, 247 – 254.