Associate Therapist, Monroeville

Rachel graduated with a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology (MSCP) from Chatham University, where she also completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (BA). Rachel’s clinical experience began in private practice, where she gained experience with adolescent, young adult, and adult populations with presenting concerns, such as: anxiety, self-esteem building, boundary setting and communication skills, depression, partner/marital discourse, and grief. During her graduate studies, Rachel was a Fellow for the Jewish Healthcare Foundation’s Death and Dying Fellowship, to gain further understanding of various healthcare settings around such topics and how those impact bereaved clients within a therapeutic environment.

For her final graduate year, Rachel’s clinical focus shifted to more specialized treatment in OCD and anxiety where she finished her final two internship placements at COA. During her placement, she acquired extensive training and individual and group clinical experience in providing therapeutic services for adolescent and adult clients with anxiety disorders, OCD, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRB).

Rachel utilizes various humanistic therapeutic approaches to her therapy, based on any given client’s needs and presenting concerns. Rachel believes in the importance of providing a safe, supportive, and caring environment where clients work collaboratively with a clinician to build their confidence, challenge themselves, and build genuine connections with others. Rachel believes it’s vital that clients understand that they matter, that they are more than their mental health diagnosis, and that they can find balance with living the lives they want while navigating their mental health concerns. She conceptualizes a client and their therapeutic needs holistically with a focus on the here-and-now, strengths, meaning-making and values, and family and cultural systems. To incorporate this, Rachel uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness strategies, Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and aspects of Existential and Gestalt therapies.