Hi, I'm Caitlin!
I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and I work with children, teens, and young adults dealing with anxiety, emotional overwhelm, life transitions, and the kind of relationship patterns that usually go back further than people realize. My work is trauma-informed, and I'm trained in both EMDR and TF-CBT for clients who've experienced something difficult, whether that's a specific event or a longer pattern of hard experiences.
Here's what I've noticed after years of doing this work: the patterns that bring people into therapy almost always made sense at some point. The kid who's suddenly anxious about school. The teen who can't stop overthinking. The young adult who keeps ending up in the same relationship dynamic and can't figure out why. None of this is random. It developed for a reason, usually as a way to cope with something, protect against something, or survive something.
My job is to help you understand where the pattern came from, and when relevant, to help you actually process what happened, so you can build something different.
My Clinical Background
I hold a Master's degree in Social Work from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Connecticut (LCSW No. 16115). My clinical training includes:
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), for processing traumatic memories and experiences that continue to affect present-day thoughts, feelings, and relationships
TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), especially for children and teens processing difficult or frightening experiences
Attachment theory, to understand how early relationships shape current patterns
Psychodynamic and relational therapy, to connect present struggles with their origins
CBT, for practical, evidence-based tools around anxiety and thought patterns
An IFS-informed lens, to help clients understand the different parts of themselves, including the ones that developed to protect them
I use these as tools, chosen based on what's actually going to help, not a script I run for every client. Trauma-informed care shapes how I listen and how I build safety in every session, but not every client needs EMDR, and not every session is trauma processing. I'll always choose the approach that fits the person in front of me.
Before opening this practice, I worked as a school social worker, then as an intensive in-home clinician providing crisis-level care to children and families, and most recently in an outpatient group practice. Together, that path took me across the full spectrum of care: from early, easy-to-miss concerns, through acute crises, to long-term healing work. It reinforced something I believe deeply, that preventative work matters, and that so much more is possible when a pattern is caught early instead of after it's become a crisis. That same clinical instinct, understanding what's underneath a struggle so I can figure out what actually helps, guides my work with every client I see, regardless of age.
How I Show Up in the Room
I'll be honest with you: I'm not the soft-spoken, gentle-voiced therapist stereotype. I care deeply, and I also talk to my clients like real people, the way I'd talk to a close friend. Direct, warm, down to earth, and completely without judgment. If you need someone to tell you something hard, I'll tell you. If you need someone to sit with you in something painful, I can do that too. What you won't get from me is vague reassurance or therapy-speak that doesn't actually mean anything.
Kids and teens tend to respond well to this. So do the parents I work with, who are usually looking for someone who'll give it to them straight, not just nod along.
Why I Do This Work
I specialize in working with families who want support early, before years pass and patterns calcify into something harder to shift. I also love working with teens and young adults who are ready to stop just getting by and actually understand themselves, sometimes for the first time, with someone trained specifically to help them process what got them there.
There's a special kind of relief that comes from finally understanding why you are the way you are. Not as an excuse, but as a starting point. From there, real change becomes possible: not white-knuckling through anxiety, not performing just enough to get by, but actually feeling like yourself again, or discovering who that even is.
That's the work I get to do every day, and I don't take for granted how much trust it takes to start.