Rebecca is a first generation college student. She is someone who has had to overcome adversity and multiple challenges to obtain her Master of Social Work degree from Marywood University in 2005 and then her Pennsylvania Professional Social Worker License in 2006. She is sincerely grateful for every challenge she has faced. She firmly believes that strength, compassion, and wisdom come from our challenges when we allow this to happen. This is an important truth Rebecca very much wants her clients to appreciate.

Rebecca utilizes an integrative model of therapy in her work. The exact formula depends upon the individual, and their needs in any given session. Rebecca’s use of the integrative model may include a mix of Person in Environment, Person Centered, Strengths Perspective, Positive Psychology, Buddhist Psychology, CBT, Humanistic, Psycho-educational, and occasionally, Depth Existential with older clients.

Rebecca has had the great privilege to spend most of her career collaboratively helping people who have mild to severe mental illness and/or intellectual disabilities, autism, and/or past histories of drug and alcohol addictions, while living in the socio-economically depressed towns and cities of Central PA.

Practice settings have included a county MH/MR Base Unit, the homes of countless people during crisis situations, hospital emergency rooms doing bed searches for involuntary admissions while comforting suicidal patients, several state maximum security juvenile treatment/detention centers for adjudicated delinquent males, an alternative after school program for male juveniles on probation, juvenile treatment centers for females, a boot camp for adjudicated delinquent males, a half-way house for teens with addictions, and six and a half years at a non-profit clinic located in a very small city (high crime rate also) of low socio-economic status.

All of Rebecca’s clients bravely faced challenges from their challenging living environments along with diagnoses such as: Paranoid Schizophrenia, Bipolar I disorder, Major depression, with psychosis, Dissociative identity Disorder, Panic Disorder with agoraphobia, Autism comorbid with Schizophrenia, Borderline personality disorder, Dependent personality disorder, Specific phobia, Generalized anxiety disorder, and PTSD. Some clients were victims of incest, victims of domestic violence, victims of sexual assault, victims of childhood abuse, Refugees from major violent wars, etc. Others had Intellectual disability, Intermittent explosive disorder, Body dysmorphic disorder, Anorexia, Bulimia, Gender dysphoria, grief after the loss of a spouse, or parent, chronic illnesses and chronic pain, Schizotypal disorder, recent divorce, major life transitions, homelessness, job losses, etc. All inspired and impressed her with their incredible resiliency.

Rebecca enjoys spending spare time meditating and chanting Tantra in hopes of reaching enlightenment in a future rebirth so that she may become a Bodhisattva (therapist with superpowers) one day. She enjoys listening to Jazz, blues, ordinary music, and Mongolian Folk Metal. She enjoys spending time with her Persian Mr. Marshmallow Floofypants and feeding him tiny bits of her vegan food. Her significant other and her best friend are not too bad either. But Mr. Marshmallow is MUCH, much cuter.