Clinician Spotlight: An Interview with Kaitlyn Hall, LMHCBy Lauren Chapin, LICSW
Welcome to Castlebrook’s Clinician Spotlight series where I sit down with some of our wonderful therapists for a cozy conversation about work, mental health, and many life tidbits in between! This month, I had the opportunity to get to know Kaitlyn Hall, LMHC who has been a therapist at Castlebrook since 2021. Kaitlyn and I discussed her journey to private practice, her love of research, and her favorite hobby outside of work (which may surprise you!). Lauren: Hi Kaitlyn! Welcome back to the office! Let’s get started with some background on your experience. How long have you been with Castlebrook now? Kaitlyn: I reached out to Kerrie (Executive Director) right after I got licensed in October 2020 and was working in the office by January 2021. So this January, it will be three years! Lauren: What was it about Castlebrook that initially drew you to the practice? Kaitlyn: Well, I met Kerrie while I was in graduate school, actually. I went to Becker College (before it closed) and they had a brand new Masters in Counseling program with a concentration in DBT. The other option was school counseling, and since I knew that I didn’t want to work in a school, I picked the DBT program, and it ended up working out excellently. I had the opportunity to shadow a couple of Kerrie’s groups during my first year and I just thought, “Who is this rockstar? How does she get people to participate and actually enjoy it?” Then in my second year, I had the chance to co-lead with Kerrie and really got to know the DBT curriculum. I emailed her after graduation once I was independently licensed and here we are! Lauren: Is DBT still a main focus of yours? Kaitlyn: Yes. I’ve been trying to make DBT work for my clients, if that makes sense. I still practice full protocol DBT to fidelity as instructed by Marsha Linehan, but I also like to adapt it. I have speciality training in treating individuals with eating disorders and there has been so much evidence that shows DBT can really benefit somebody with an eating disorder. Also, with athletes, there’s research coming to light now about the mental health issues and pressures that competitive and elite athletes face, and I've been trying to see how I can use DBT for that population as well. I try not to force it on any clients, but it’s so easily adaptable that I can kind of sprinkle it in there. Lauren: What parts of DBT have you found are helpful for folks who are experiencing eating disorders? Kaitlyn: Definitely the mindfulness piece. As the foundation of DBT, everybody could benefit from being more mindful in their daily life. With an eating disorder, so many things take you out of the present moment. One intervention the eating disorder community uses with clients is trying to externalize the eating disorder. You give it a name, give it a voice, and it’s something separate from yourself. I think mindfulness can really help us do that in order to not only stay present, but to have this separate entity that’s not us; we’re not defined by it. Other applications are to utilize emotional regulation and distress tolerance while trying to decrease/reduce eating disorder behaviors. It’s incredibly stressful for the client and these foundational interventions come in handy with that! Lauren: I wonder, when it comes to athletes, are they primed to be receptive to mindfulness because of how singularly focused they need to be during a game? Kaitlyn: Oh yeah. Well, I think mindfulness is a great reminder for them to not only stay in the game, but stay out of it when they need to step away. I was just reading an article about how mindfulness helps with both their performance and the recovery after, mentally and physically. It emphasized the mind-body connection, trying to avoid injury, and healing. I find it so cool, I’m a huge research nerd. I love learning about new things that are coming out in the field. Lauren: Tell me more about the research with athletes! Kaitlyn: I keep coming back to it. They did an excellent job making the connection between athletes and DBT. They broke it down by DBT modules: mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Then, they went through each of those sections and discussed where it could be applied to athletes and their experiences, almost like a manual. Lauren: So you use DBT with different populations, you work with folks experiencing eating disorders, what else do you fold into your practice? Kaitlyn: I try to fold in creative outlets. I originally got my bachelor’s in liberal arts, super basic, because I had a feeling that I was going to go into kind of an eclectic counseling practice. I actually went to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for creative arts therapy where I studied for about a year before deciding to come back to Massachusetts to finish with a masters in counseling. I learned so many valuable therapeutic interventions during that year using art and movement. I try to utilize that as much as possible, especially combined with mindfulness. There are many clients that come in and say, “I don’t want to do deep breathing,” and you have to say, “Well, A., deep breathing is great [laughs], and B., we can do so many other things that are mindful that have nothing to do with breath work!” I find that art is one way to do that. Lauren: You’ve talked about the population you normally work with, can you share a bit more? Kaitlyn: I predominantly work with adults, but sometimes will make an exception depending on what’s going on with a referral I might get for a kiddo. I do enjoy a lot of the young adult work and the transition into adulthood/coming of age stuff that happens that nobody prepares us for. The second puberty; we all went through it, nobody really helps us with it. I’ve also had a lot of clients with ADHD, or suspecting they might have it. That’s ending up being a commonality with a lot of my young adults. Lauren: It sounds like you work with some clients who are especially emotionally vulnerable. How do you try to foster a safe, non-judgmental space around that? Kaitlyn: I try to have as much of a “no-pressure” approach as possible. I do point out that sometimes [therapy] can be weird, unique, and also quite difficult. I let them know that I’m on their team and the nonjudgmental stance that DBT really strives for right at the beginning is trying to constantly remind them of that. It could take a year for someone to really buy into the fact that they’re really not being judged. Other therapists and providers may have heard something “scary” in a session and reacted to that, but a DBT therapist is not going to think it’s scary. That can be a game changer for a lot of clients. Sometimes clients think, especially when they first disclose a suicidal thought, that they will be sent straight to the hospital. Trust has to be built around that. Lauren: I can see how that would make a space feel safer, to have an informed conversation around what the safest route would be. Outside of work, what are some of the things that bring you joy? Kaitlyn: I kickbox. I’ve been boxing for four years, and I teach classes occasionally. That balance is important. Every one of us needs to box at least once in their life in order to realize how effective it is. The other thing I like to do is crafting, that’s always been a great outlet for me. Lauren: What’s your favorite metaphor, saying, or phrase that you use a lot in your practice that you could share? Kaitlyn: It’s not an original by me. DBT is based on the BioSocial Theory, and some of us are just wired differently. We’re wired to be more sensitive, and when that’s paired with a social environment that’s invalidating or unsupportive, it’s a recipe for disaster. Crayola makes a dinky little box of 8 crayons, and then they make these big boxes of 64. Some have glitter, funny names, and that’s just how some of us who are more sensitive are with our emotions. We have a big box of 64 emotions at any given moment and that’s a lot to balance. And kind of amazing that we have that many to choose from in our daily life (metallic teal, anyone?) and that we can experience such a range. Lauren: Is there anything that we didn’t go over that you’d want a potential client to know? Kaitlyn: That reaching out to engage in therapy, in any way, is huge. That takes so much courage. It’s a huge step in somebody's life and not enough people give themselves credit for that. If you’re reading this and thinking about filling out the form on our website, go for it! It might be the most positive thing you do today. At the time of this blog post, Kaitlyn is accepting new clients. Please fill out the intake form on our website or call our intake coordinator at 508-475-9110 x2 to inquire.
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Clinician Spotlight: An Interview with Jessica Levesque, MA By Lauren Chapin, LICSWWelcome to the sixth installment of Clinician Spotlight, a series where I sit down with some of our wonderful therapists for a cozy conversation about work, mental health, and many life tidbits in between. Last week, I was pleased to meet our newest clinician, Jessica Levesque, MA. Please join me in welcoming Jessica to the Castlebrook team where she is excited to utilize play therapy in her work with children. She also discusses the importance of having fun in session, her passion for holistic care, and how she incorporates play into her own life.
******** Lauren: Hi Jessica, it’s great to meet you! Thank you for taking the time to tell me about yourself. I know that part of your background is school based counseling, what led you to private practice? Jessica: Yes! Actually, while counseling is part of my school based work at a specialist level as a licensed psychologist, I also have a significant special education background, working collectively with Speech Pathologists, BCBA, and Occupational therapists. I’ve always wanted to do some private practice on the side while working in schools. Now that my kids are older, I finally have the opportunity to do that. I’ve been practicing for about 20 years, and I feel like I have a good amount of tools in the toolbox to give back. Lauren: Which tools will you be able to utilize at Castlebrook that you aren’t able to in a school setting? Jessica: While the school setting doesn’t always offer the opportunity to delve deeper into children’s issues, I am looking forward to private practice filling that gap by allowing my clients to work through those things with me in the moment instead of needing to refer out. The community setting will also enable me to help kids more holistically since I can have more direct parent involvement which improves treatment outcomes. Lauren: You mention that you’ve been practicing for 20 years. Has that always been with kids? Jessica: Not necessarily. While I was in school, I began my training with adults who had significant mental health needs. Following this experience, I thought maybe I’d like to try working with kids instead, and I started working with the young autistic population and as a preschool teacher. I found that I really liked the younger ages, and eventually, began working in my most recent role as a specialist level licensed psychologist in schools. Fast forward to the last five years, I’ve noticed an increase in trauma responsiveness in the schools and have had the opportunity to build my skill set through both this trauma work and DBT training. After these years of experience, I feel I am now at a point in my career where I feel comfortable taking on a change in setting to make an even bigger impact. For me, the most rewarding part of this job is when people feel like they have more of a handle on things and feel better about themselves. Lauren: It’s definitely necessary now in the current landscape where there is a shortage of clinicians who specialize in working with children. Jessica: Absolutely. Sometimes even teachers are floored at the increasing level of challenges children are facing, understanding their ever-evolving mental health needs, and the wait lists for treatment. Lauren: I bet! You mentioned being trauma informed, do you feel as if you’re leaning towards working with trauma as a specialty or do you have other interests as well? Jessica: I guess there are multiple answers to that question. Historically, I've done individual therapy and small group therapy utilizing curriculums such as social thinking and zones of regulation for children on the autism spectrum. Potentially, I’d like to run a weekend group for neurodiverse children who may have an autism spectrum disorder or challenges with social communication and have a need for understanding their social world, managing their emotions, and improving their executive functioning. I primarily work with children from around age three, preschool, to age 13, eighth grade. I also work with children who experience mood dysregulation of negative affect or anger control, anxiousness or depression, and other related issues, including selective mutism. The majority of my approach is based in cognitive behavior therapy, but I also have done some work with both art therapy and, as a result of DBT training, mindfulness. With kids, I think it’s important to use a lot of visual support and hands-on activities. Lauren: What would be an example of that? Jessica: For a more hands-on approach, I started delving into somatic work and utilized movement to help kids regulate, especially kids who were resistant to treatment due to trauma. I tried having kids use a percussion drum to feel the vibrations in their body and that worked really well. For me, it’s all about utilizing a strengths-based approach to find what works for them. It’s not going to be effective if they just come in and don’t talk. Understanding emotions can be difficult for children. They don’t have the vocabulary yet to express themselves verbally, so trying to process feelings mentally and physically is overwhelming. When they’re ready, I help them label what emotion they are feeling and recognize how it shows up in their body. I also use bibliotherapy to help with big emotions. Lauren: I love that. What’s your go-to book series? Jessica: I love the Lori Lite series. She covers a lot of coping skills. For example, “Sea Otter Cove” is about deep breathing and “Angry Octopus” focuses on progressive muscle relaxation. I’ve also found things over the years that coincide with these books, like puppets, so I can utilize a multi-faceted approach with these lessons. Kids need to have fun and it has to be kind of imaginative like using a hula hoop to symbolize personal space. Another series I've been liking is “What Should Danny Do?” by Adir Levi. This series utilizes the idea of having “the power to choose” and helps kids use their coping skills and social skills to decide what they would do in certain situations. Lauren: I’ll have to check those out! Speaking of fun, what are some of the things you do to have fun outside of the play therapy room? Jessica: I paint. At home, I’ll do paint by numbers but I’ve also been doing painting classes as well for about two years now. I’m looking forward to trying a pottery class, too. I like to hike and am part of two hiking clubs. I also like to camp with my family and do other family activities. Spirituality is important to me and I incorporate a lot of mindfulness into my day. I love watching the sunset, sunrise, and listening to the birds. Lauren: That sounds like the perfect way to unwind. Thank you, Jessica, for chatting with me. I’m looking forward to supporting you and the work you do at Castlebrook! Clinician Spotlight: An Interview with McKenzie Sheridan, MABy Lauren Chapin, LICSW
Welcome to the fifth installment of Clinician Spotlight, a series where I sit down with some of our wonderful therapists for a cozy conversation about work, mental health, and many life tidbits in between. Most recently, I had the opportunity to speak with McKenzie Sheridan, MA. We are so excited to welcome McKenzie to the Castlebrook team for the next year while she finishes up her Doctoral program in Clinical Psychology. McKenzie discussed how she cultivates a safe space in her therapy room, her focus on the LGBTQIA+ population, and her jungle of house plants. ******** Lauren: Hi McKenzie, welcome to Castlebrook! Thank you for sitting down with me to chat. Could you begin by telling me a bit about your educational background and what brought you to private practice? McKenzie: I have wanted to be a therapist since childhood. I first earned my bachelor’s degree in psychology from Simmons University and then took a year off working in a group home for teen girls who were trauma survivors. I really enjoyed the work and appreciated having that hands-on experience before diving into my master’s in mental health counseling at Boston College. I then transitioned directly into the PsyD program in clinical psychology at William James College where I am currently in my fourth year. I have about two years left, and I was looking for a way to continue my clinical experience and gain some personal fulfillment because I just love therapy so much. While working under the supervision of Dr. Beth Anderson (another wonderful Castlebrook clinician!) at Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital, I fell in love with Dialectical Behavior Therapy. We discussed the possibility of working at Castlebrook to develop a DBT group for trans and gender non-conforming youth, and now it’s a dream come true for me. I’m here for one year before my next internship. Lauren: We’re so grateful to have you. You spoke about your experience at the hospital and a group home, what other settings have you had the opportunity to work in? McKenzie: I’ve done a lot of work in schools and community mental health settings such as integrated behavioral health within medical offices, crisis response, and a day shelter for women experiencing homelessness. I also held an internship practicing individual therapy where my youngest client was 3 years old and my oldest was 62. Lauren: You’ve had such a variety of experiences during your training! McKenzie: That was very intentional on my part. I knew that the setting really drives the experience and I wanted exposure to as many as possible to figure out where I thrive and where I see myself serving people in the most helpful way. I’ve learned a lot and to be honest, I'm still not sure, but I'm excited to keep figuring it out. My primary experience so far has been working with children, adolescents, and families. I really love working with the little ones, but my current population of interest is adolescents and young adults that are in the LGBTQA+ community or hold other historically marginalized identities. Lauren: You mentioned starting a group for this adolescent population. How did you come up with the idea for the group? Did you recognize a service gap? McKenzie: Yes, actually. It was a combination of that, current socio-political climates, and the direction my training took me in. I really dove into group work over the last year and loved it. Laws across the country are telling Queer youth that they are not allowed to be who they are. Here in Massachusetts, our community has more protections but they are still exposed to that message. External support, access to affirming care, and visibility of gender nonconforming joy are crucial, and unfortunately not a guarantee. One of the tiers of DBT treatment is finding community, and I thought creating a DBT group directly for this population would be a great way to readily incorporate community building into treatment. So, when clients come into this group, they’re in one protected space together where they can safely explore, grieve, and tackle some of that deeper stuff with others who share that experience. Lauren: That’s wonderful. You had mentioned some research too! What has that research been about? McKenzie: My research has been broad, but with a focus on trans and gender nonconforming youth, their experiences in therapy, and their experiences with trauma. Some of my research has looked at which aspects of treatment are found to be helpful and not helpful, and how these pieces are not always aligned between the identified client and their family. My doctoral project research has shifted a bit to queer people in general and identity formation. I am exploring the experiences of identity development of queer individuals who come out later in life and what the implications of that are. Lauren: That sounds like necessary research! Going back to your comment of always wanting to be a therapist, why is that? McKenzie: I was like a moth to a flame with therapy. Before wanting to be a therapist, I wanted to be a teacher. I loved working with kids, helping people, teaching new things, and learning new things. However, I didn't like a lot of the bureaucratic work that came along with it. I found myself feeling more invested in the emotional experience of children and how this often gets in the way of their academic or social success. Further, when I worked at the group home, I discovered that I didn't necessarily want to be managing schedules and talking around the dinner table. I wanted to help them with what was going on inside on a deeper level. I really love looking at things from a global perspective and looking at all of the moving pieces. Lauren: As you’re preparing to take on clients and build your group, what is something that you want prospective clients to know about the type of therapy space you try to cultivate? McKenzie: It’s important for my clients to know that I view the therapy space as not just a space of vulnerability, but a space of authenticity. You can be exactly who you are, no more and no less, and I am on your team. I really love the idea of unconditional positive regard and that’s very present in a lot of my therapeutic relationships. I think that one of the most magical things about therapy is that you get to have a person outside of your everyday life who is on your team and is there to specifically support you. There is no way to win or fail at therapy, you just show up as you are and do your best. Lauren: I like that message. Are there any other favorite metaphors or sayings that you use and have found effective? McKenzie: I love metaphors. One of my favorites that I've adapted over the years is to imagine that you are a juggler and the challenges of life are the juggling balls. You're constantly trying to keep them all up in the air, but this actually isn’t the most important piece of the work. The most important part is to figure out which balls are made of glass and which are made of rubber. Because when you drop a ball, and you will, some of the balls will shatter and some of them will bounce. I use that with myself and with clients. Lauren: That sounds really helpful when thinking about priorities and all of the different life domains we deal with. Speaking of life domains, besides work, what else brings you joy and keeps you motivated? McKenzie: There’s an independent music artist that I've been listening to a lot named Maddie Zahm. She writes a lot of raw, vulnerable, autobiographical stuff about who she is and figuring out what kind of life she wants to live. I love everything she puts out. She’s genuine even when it hurts. I’ve also been really into house plants these last couple of years. I started out propagating plants from leaves I bought online and now my hobby has grown to include over 100 house plants! Lauren: Amazing. I’ll definitely have to give Maddie a listen! Thank you, McKenzie, for chatting. I can’t wait to follow more of your work as you continue your journey here at Castlebrook. |
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Castlebrook Counseling Services, Inc. is a group of private practice clinicians with a shared goal of strengthening our community by providing therapy and clinical support designed for children, adults, and families to successfully meet life’s challenges.