Samantha Whelan (she/her)

I most often use cognitive behavioral therapy as a psycho-social intervention to aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, anxiety disorders, and addictions.

When appropriate I use Motivational Interviewing (MI). It's a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion. It is very useful for anxiety, perfectionism, and addictions.

Sometimes you just need to let it out! Client centered therapy, or person centered therapy, is a non-directive approach to talk therapy. It requires the client to actively take the reins during each therapy session, while the therapist acts mainly as a guide or a source of support for the client. Person centered therapy allows the client to steer the ship.

This type of counseling helps individuals or members of couples of all types to explore, recognize, and resolve conflicts in an effort to improve their relationships and interactions. Through counseling, you can be provided with the tools to make thoughtful and intentional decisions about your relationship or the relationship you want to cultivate.

Anxiety is a natural stress response that occurs when you’re afraid or worried. You might experience anxiety before boarding a plane, when giving a presentation to your class, or after finding out a coworker was let go. Your anxious thoughts and feelings may come and go with the stressful event or you may feel anxiety all of the time. We will identify and examine and the roots, triggers, reactions and develop coping skills to manage and ease anxiety.

Self-esteem affects how we think, feel, and behave. It impacts our relationships with others and our relationship with ourselves. We feel confident about our appearance, our intelligence, personality, and our abilities and don’t worry about what other people think of us. It shows the degree to which we have self-respect and believe we deserve respect from others. I most often use CBT to identify the thoughts, feelings, & behaviors that are holding you back from finding compassion for yourself.