I was born and raised in the sunny state of Florida and attended Florida Gulf Coast University for both my undergrad and graduate degrees. In the summer during graduate school I traveled to Ghana in West Africa to conduct a research project and brought back findings to share at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) yearly conference. I was also nominated and elected Social Work Student of the Year by my professors and peers for the NASW Florida chapter. I enjoyed sharing stories of my work to help my classmates learn what textbook scenarios look like in real life. The majority of my career has been in an inpatient setting where I had the opportunity to be there during often the darkest times of someones life. On the unit I worked with children as young as 4 up to the geriatric population and my approach was quite similar despite the differences in age. I have a positive outlook and resourceful nature; if I don’t know the answer I will do my best to find it. I often use a solution-focused approach to issues by guiding my clients to discover their ability to conquer problems they face with their own inner strengths. I also use a cognitive-based approach to teach people how to change their thoughts resulting in improved mental health.