Empower Family Therapy provides office & home-based therapy services to families in Oak Park, and surrounding Chicagoland areas.

Outpatient therapist at Riverside-Brookfield high school & Berwyn agency office

• Provided systemically focused counseling services to a population of children, youth, and their families suffering from sexual abuse, neglect, anger problems, developmental transition, at risk youth, and school-based issues• Accomplished approximately 700 hours of clinical training and more than 230 hours of counseling. Maintained a diverse caseload of 12 clients a week, with the majority being relational and involved the whole family.• Was invited to do co-therapy with a supervisor on a prominent case to assess whether the current foster parents would be the best adoptive option for the siblings. The case provided me with valuable insight into protocol of DCFS, as the children were wards of the state. Working closely with the staff therapist allowed me to be comfortable and confident with a difficult case that involved sexual abuse, court involvement, and permanency decisions for the children: which interns and new therapists are rarely exposed to. • Recognized interns and staff therapists were often searching for therapy resources to use with clients. Took inventory of the games, books, assessments and other miscellaneous techniques that were in the library and created a database to ease therapists in accessing the best fitting resource for the client’s needs. • Sought out schools with interested in having a therapist facilitate a group focused on issues from bullying and self-harm in middle school classes, to healthy expressions of emotions for second graders. I created a curriculum based on the groups’ needs that aimed to create better recognition and communication of feelings, and capitalized on encouraging cohesion within the classmates. I then added this curriculum to the resource library at my site for subsequent interns to use.• Participated in the Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change (STIC) Project as part of collaboration with The Family Institute at Northwestern University and Catholic Charities

• Developed the organization’s social media presence, and substantially increased their following. Created the monthly e-newsletter to nationwide supporters updating them on the happenings of the organization• Determined a need for an event that introduced local youth to nonprofits that offer summer opportunities for teens ranging from paid work to educational experiences. I contacted many organizations, found a venue, and connected with youth to invite them. A dozen groups participated in the event and many youth were matched with programs, that ultimately kept them off the streets and provided them with valuable experiences for the summer and future• Organized and participated in events that brought other non-profit organizations together to share their resources with local youth. Represented the organization at their table at events; shared their mission, answered questions, and provided other necessary information to encourage participation• Recognized that the organization had a substantial library of cultural and historical resources ranging from magazines, books, videos, and tapes that had been donated and accumulated. I noticed that their system of organization and lending was not meeting their need, and I worked to update the system to encourage the youth to use the resources. I took an updated inventory of the resources, organized them based on subject, created an electronic way to stay updated on the lending, and developed a wish-list for supporters to donate. • Was entrusted by the small staff with valuable duties such as banking and mass mailings to the hundreds of supporters of the organization. Aided in accepting and organizing the applications received for multiple positions for hire. I organized the applications, communicated with the applicants, and decided if a staff member should follow up with the applicant for an interview.

• Gained experience with crisis and suicide counseling while working with clients dealing with crises, psychological disorders, and chronic stressors• Underwent a six-week, sixty hour, intensive training program to become an approved crisis phone counselor; which included basics of crisis theory, crisis intervention techniques, theories of suicide prevention, and building rapport• On a few occasions, the caller I was speaking to was contemplating hurting themselves or someone else, and I used my training to follow the steps to ensure their safety; all the while keeping the rapport so they would stay on the line with me. I would have the caller on the line, while I was checking in with my supervisor on another line, and I contacted the police or other party to ensure the caller’s safety. I would then make it a point to personally follow up with those callers later that week to check in with them and offer any other support or counseling services.• Worked closely with other members of the community to deliver necessary resources such as who to contact if one cannot pay their rent or bills, or if they are in need of low-cost medical care. Also, participated in trainings with the local Police Department and shared with them the important skills necessary when they respond to crisis situations, to care for themselves as well as the members of the community.• Built rapport with a caller who had been calling frequently for about twenty years, and led her through making small steps towards change; which was regarded as monumental in her progress at that time.

• Because of my position as a phone counselor I was invited to be a teacher’s assistant for a course that provided information on suicide and self-harm, statistics on suicide in our culture and others, populations that are at high risk for suicide, and some brief training on how to help someone who is suicidal• Led a small group of my peers through discussion after lecture as we intimately discussed some of the more difficult points of suicide including stigma, the idea that suicide is selfish, whether suicide is ever justified, and the recurring feeling that if a loved one commits suicide we may be partially to blame• It was valuable to use my training to join in discussions with my peers who were wrestling with these long-standing stigmas and difficult assumptions, and see how their opinions and outlook shifted over the course of the semester as their understanding of suicide grew and changed.

• Administered studies focusing on prejudice, stigma, and discrimination research• Worked closely with the researchers and contributed to discussion and planning of research methods, and gave feedback of my personal experience as the research assistant who was conducting the experiment in the lab. Specifically, discussed possible ways to ‘measure’ the stigma someone may have for another based on how many empty seats they put between themselves and the person.• Conducted research, compiled and coded data, and aided the doctoral student in analyzing collected data to determine the results. Suggested some variables that may have impacted their choices such as cultural expectations for personal space and how close one gets to strangers. • Greeted students as they arrived for the experiment, lead them through the specific script, worked to limit any variables of my behavior that would impact the results, monitored their behaviors closely, and debriefed the students as necessary in the end.