Our Therapists

I work with adolescents, young adults, and adults to help them address problems that are interfering with their lives and to reconnect them with their values, hopes, and dreams. I have particular expertise in substance abuse, addictions, depression, anxiety, life transitions, and
relationship challenges.

I primarily use Narrative Therapy to help clients separate from the problems dominating their lives and to support them in moving towards what they care most about in life. I believe that the best therapy is a collaborative process where the therapist and the client share in the investigation of the client’s concerns and the potential solutions. I ask exploratory questions that lead clients toward insights and discoveries. Together we develop simple, achievable action plans. I integrate other approaches when appropriate including Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psycho-education, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skills, and Mindfulness. I received my Master’s in Social Work from Boston University. In addition to seeing clients at East Coast Mental Wellness, I work as a therapist at Butler Hospital. I completed clinical
internships at Rhode Island Hospital and in the counseling center at Providence College.

Mary uses reality therapy, which focuses on the current moment to create a better future. She has been in practice for 17 years. She began her journey of counseling in 1993 with a certificate in Thanatology, (grief, death, and dying) working at a funeral home as the family service coordinator, and then went on for a BS in counseling and then for an MHC, masters level. She believes that a person can accomplish anything that they truly want to with help and confidence.

She loves helping people find joy in life no matter where they are starting from. The life coach aspect of counseling allows people to move forward fulfilling their dreams, which is very rewarding. Mary has experience in marriage counseling and addiction.

Approach to Therapy

I love being a therapist. I consider it a great privilege and honor to be invited into people’s lives in times of struggle and vulnerability. When I work with clients my hope is that they will leave our sessions feeling respected, understood, validated, accepted, and with less distress and more hope. I use an integrated client-centered approach. I weave together Narrative Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Motivational Interviewing, Attachment Theory, Mindfulness, psychoeducation, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I am an artist and I use my creative training to tailor the therapy experience to each client’s unique needs, fluidly shifting focus between emotions, thoughts, and actions or behaviors. I see all feelings as purposeful, providing information about needs. I consider most problems to be attempts at solutions that are not yielding the intended results. I work from a strengths-based perspective looking to amplify and build on what clients are already doing that works and to uncover yet-to-be-accessed abilities and solutions. It is easy to become trapped in a story about ourselves and our lives that keeps us bound to our problems and our problem identity. I collaborate with clients to explore and develop narratives that can serve to move them towards the lives they desire.

I believe connection and belonging are fundamental, physiologically-based human needs. I like to help individuals, couples, and families build more connected lives. I work with young adults and adults. Clients in individual therapy are always invited to bring important people such as partners, parents, children, friends, roommates, or housemates into sessions either for support or to use the session to work on relationship repair.

I work with clients of all races, ethnicities, religions, socio-economic statuses, sexual orientations, gender identities, body sizes, and abilities. I work from a weight-neutral HAES® informed perspective. I take a stand against prejudice and the oppression of members of marginalized groups.

Education and Work Experience

I received a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. I also completed graduate coursework in Couples and Family Therapy and in Applied Behavior Analysis, as well as undergraduate coursework in child development. My clinical internship was at the eating disorder treatment center, Walden Behavioral Care, where I worked with adults and adolescents and their families. Clients struggled with eating disorders including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. Prior to that, I worked at Bradley Hospital with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families. I am also trained as an Embodyoga® yoga teacher and can integrate guided relaxation, body awareness, and meditation into sessions to reduce stress, increase the ability to self-soothe, and strengthen the inner witness to help clients be less carried away by negative thoughts and mood states.

I have completed advanced trainings and workshops in Narrative Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Eating Disorders (An Evolutionary Approach) with Dr. Shan Guisinger, and The Neurosychotherapist Institute’s Core Principles of Neuroscience. I completed Embodyoga® 200 and 300 Hour Teacher Training programs at Yoga Center Amherst where I also taught yoga and was an assistant teacher trainer.

Issues and Concerns I work with:

• Existential – Wrestling with issues about mortality, freedom, responsibility, injustice, or searches for meaning
• Habit Change – Figuring out how to make small changes that lead to big improvements in quality of life
• Transitions – Beginning college, a new career, parenthood, marriage, divorce, loss, children leaving home, retirement
• Relationship Issues – Chronic conflict, living separate lives, loss of passion, persistent disagreements about money, in-laws, sex, work, parenting, exploring whether to stay together or separate, when divorcing how to have the best divorce possible
• Grief & Loss – Loss of loved ones, relationships, pets, roles, identities, abilities
• Complex Decisions – Examining the various ways a situation might unfold, the possible risks and rewards, forecasting what is most likely and what outcome you would be most comfortable with
• Ambivalence About Change – Exploring options when you want to change and you don’t want to change, or when someone else wants you to change and you don’t want to change
• Academic Issues – Study habits, procrastination, adjusting to the demands of college
• Disordered Eating – chronic dieting, chronic body dissatisfaction, compulsive exercise, weight suppression, building resilience to weight stigma and prejudice directed towards larger-bodied people, unlearning internalized fatphobia, non-dieting and anti-diet approaches to wellness, recovering from negative impacts of diet culture
• Eating Disorders – Addressed through a framework that synthesizes biological, social/cultural, and psychological factors: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, orthorexia
• Effects of Injustice & Oppression – Working with how we are influenced by larger systems, depersonalizing internalized cultural stigma, contextualizing problems within the larger web of family, society, and culture
• Shame & Self-criticism – Developing a more fair, kind, and supportive inner dialogue
• Artists & Creative Professional Concerns – Resolving creative blocks, balancing your art with other needs, strategizing how to “make it work” financially, designing combinations of day jobs & creative work if needed
• LBGTQ Concerns – Positive identity development, lack of acceptance of sexual orientation or gender identity from family and loved ones, building resilience to heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia
• Anxiety – Excessive worrying about events, activities, or situations that feels out of proportion and interferes with your everyday life, always picturing the worst occurring, muscle tension, feeling restless, on edge, or keyed up, feeling irritable, having difficulty concentrating or finding your mind going blank, fatiguing easily, restlessness, difficulty getting a good night of sleep
• Depression – Experiencing a persistent low mood where you feel sad, empty or hopeless, loss of pleasure in things you used to enjoy, sleeping too much or too little, intense guilt or feelings of worthlessness, difficulty with fatigue and concentration, thoughts of death

To Clients with Eating Disorders

In my work with clients with eating disorders, I emphasize developing your support system and endeavor to help clients tolerate the distress that can be a part of the recovery process. My preference is always to work as part of your team of providers. I can also help you build your team. I believe eating disorders are biopsychosocial conditions with physiological underpinnings in human adaptations to survive famine. Having an eating disorder can be frightening, isolating, and produce tremendous shame. For some, it can be bewildering and frustrating to have your loved ones express concerns you don’t share. Struggle with an eating disorder can leave people demoralized, confused, and afraid. I take a non-blaming non-shaming stance toward clients and families. I meet clients where they are and help them to make sense of the experience, to access support, to grieve what they have lost to the illness, and to chart a course back to wellness. Meal support and meal coaching can be incorporated into sessions.

I respect size diversity and support clients to nurture their health independent of weight or size, operating from a weight-neutral HAES® informed perspective. I help clients move toward listening to body cues to nourish their bodies with enjoyable foods and pleasurable movement when appropriate. For clients who are at a bodyweight lower than where their body would be most comfortable and safe, I support them in the renourishment process alongside their medical providers and dietician. I also work with clients to explore fears and obstacles to the recovery process.

Practicalities

• Office Hours: Daytime, afternoon, and evening hours available.
• Location: East Coast Mental Wellness’ offices are handicapped accessible and located on the Eastside of Providence. We are on the third floor of the historic 1 Richmond Square building with beautiful views of the Seekonk River, Witherby Park, and the wooded Waterman Street Dog Park. Our offices are within walking distance of Brown and RISD.
• Insurance & Fees: Fifty-minute sessions $120. Sliding scale available. Some insurances are taken. Receipts for out-of-network reimbursement through your insurance company provided upon request.
• Contact: Please email at lily@eastcoastmentalwellness.com to schedule a brief telephone consultation to discuss your needs, ask further questions, and see if we would be a good fit.

My use of reality-based therapy helps clients find better ways to fulfill their needs with the goal of self-evaluation and confident decision making. I am a Masters level therapist and recent graduate of Southwestern College where I specialized in Art Therapy. While Art Therapy can be utilized in many different ways, it is never my goal to interpret your art for you. Art is a healing practice and only the creator can truly understand the creation.

I primarily work with adults and those in the LGBTQ+ community.

Catt (she/her pronouns) graduated from Salve Regina University with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling and currently working towards licensure. She attended University of Rhode Island where she completed her undergraduate studies, double majoring in Psychology and Human Development & Family Studies.

Catt has experience working with a wide range of individuals and is currently serving the young adult and adult population. Catt strives to create an environment of safety, acceptance, validation, humor, and empathic understanding. She loves walking alongside clients, working to unearth innate coping strategies and collaboratively develop new ways of seeing themselves, the world, and their place within it. Catt uses holistic methods in her practice and believes it is necessary to integrate mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional forms of well-being to help clients develop a deeper understanding of themselves on all of these levels.

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Accepting New Clients: Yes

My name is Cynthia (she/her) and I am currently a student at Johnson & Wales University pursuing my Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, with a concentration in Addiction Counseling. I served as a volunteer firefighter/EMT for 4 years back home in Manchester, Connecticut where I grew up. I received my Bachelor of Science in Public Safety Administration at Charter Oak State College before moving on to graduate school. I believe in creating a safe
environment for those who may be going through rough patches in their life and respect and applaud them for their decision and bravery to come to therapy during a vulnerable time. My goal is to help you become the best version of yourself and continue down a path of happiness and fulfillment. I also want to help you rewrite your story and make it a version where you are front and center and viewing yourself as who you want to be.