I am on my journey to becoming a clinical mental health counselor, thus I am currently earning my Bachelors in Psychology and soon moving on to my Masters in Counseling. After obtaining my degree and licensure, I plan to begin working in a therapeutic practice/facility that shares my vision of equitable humanistic therapy. Whilst in the process of earning my degree, I am looking for remote roles pertaining to counseling, crisis intervention, peer mentorship, and psychological research.My therapeutic orientation is based on the styles that utilize meaning-making - that is, the styles that rely on the deconstruction of negative narratives and reconstruction of healthier storylines. Specifically, I am interested in the merging of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with narrative therapy, existential therapy, and acceptance and commitment (ACT) therapy. In addition to narrative transformation, these styles are based on re-interpretation and acceptance of feelings/thoughts/circumstances, personal responsibility for healing, and cognitive defusion (creating distance/detachment from one's thoughts). I’ve implemented these approaches in my volunteer work as a Crisis Text Line (988) counselor and hospice volunteer. In my virtual counseling, I guide individuals through their emotional crises involving suicidal ideation and attempts, depression and anxiety, self-harm, addiction, and homicidal urges. In my work as a hospice volunteer, I connect with dying individuals and their families through conversation, reading to them, writing letters, and answering questions about death. Overall, the impact I have made volunteering has confirmed to me that my strengths lie in helping individuals deconstruct negative narratives and re-interpret their situation in a way that they can make peace with.
