Samantha received her master's degree in mental health counseling at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in January 2022. She has experience treating clients with issues such as anxiety, stress, PTSD, depression, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, substance use disorders, mandated and forensic populations, and dual diagnosis populations. Samantha gained her experience by providing services in inpatient settings, outpatient settings, and with the ACT/FACT team.

Samantha utilizes Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), Person-Centered, Solution-Focused (Brief) Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in order to help her clients get the best outcome possible. Samantha believes it is pivotal to build rapport with clients by creating and focusing on building a trusting relationship that is authentic by utilizing effective communication in order to help the client feel more comfortable. Samantha wants to make her clients feel that they have her attention, feel safe, and build a working relationship to identify workable goals that are focused on improving the quality of life for the client and align with their self-identification, self-interest, and self-esteem.

Samantha has several goals for her clients. Her first goal is to identify the client’s purpose for attending therapy, establish and discuss the benefits and expected outcomes they are looking for, and understand the advantages of attending the therapeutic sessions and the responsibilities of the client in the therapeutic process leading to meeting their goals. Her second goal is to provide guidance, support, and education with the purpose of helping her clients improve their quality of life, their daily functioning, their management styles, their situation(s), and/or the reasons that brought them into therapy. Samantha wants to provide her clients with the support and guidance they need and be authentic and honest. Lastly, she finds it important to identify problematic thoughts, behaviors, barriers, or concerns by engaging the client to assess, think, and discover new and alternative opportunities available to them in order to improve their quality of life and gain proper coping and independence.