I named my practice after two of my major attachment figures - my maternal grandparents. Rich and Bonnie or Grammy and Papa to me :) I owe so much of my personal and professional development to those two; so, it felt so important to me to bring a piece of them into my practice with. me. My grandparents had a number of businesses over the span of their lives (a tire shop, an arcade, rentals, and jewelry shop) all of which they held under the name of “Emerald.”

Honestly it depends on the day! And your lead. With my focus being client centered I always complete a check in at the start of session to see how our time apart has been and to see where your mind is wanting/needing us to go that day. Of course, I am happy to offer ideas/suggestions, as well, and we always have our initial treatment goals to fall back on. Depending on what we’re working on a session could look like picking back up with a memory we are working on with EMDR, processing through a song or TikTok that hit close to home, or processing through a difficult interpersonal interaction.

Practice policies are an important part of therapy and the therapist that you select! Click here to take a look at mine to make sure you are comfortable with them.

I have my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Edinboro University and my Master in Science from Chatham University. I am a certified EMDR Therapist through EMDRIA. I have also completed a number of continuing education courses (some required by my board(s) and some just for fun!). These range from topics like dissociation, religious trauma, parts work, attachment, complex trauma/ptsd, and so on. I also actively participate in ongoing consultation groups.

I have worked in a variety of mental heath settings ranging from a milieu therapist at Western Psychiatric Hospital to a Crisis Supervisor at Resolve to working in forensics at a state hospital.

This also depends! I am available for both :) And you are also open to experiment with one or other! There are some circumstances in which telehealth may not be the best option - but I’ll always let you know if I have the concern!

I bring my personal and professional life experiences into the therapy space and they are yours to explore. The personal experiences of course have a end point because this is about you :) But - I do want you to know me and feel comfortable with me. Our working therapy relationship is so important and it really has the opportunity to grow and evolve just like your relationships outside of therapy. I have a number of approaches/theories that I pull from but I also like to adapt those to who I am sharing space with in any given session.

I work from an inclusive and feminist perspective as those reflect my core values. I welcome any person who is open and wants to learn and grow in some way. Client autonomy is SO important and a top priority for me. Trauma and life takes away so much autonomy from us; so, in therapy I think it’s crucial you feel like you’re driving the car.