Empowerment
Transform Your Life Through Compassionate Care
Therapy and Counseling Services
Therapy or counseling sessions are offered online to anyone living in NC, as well as in-person for those living in or around the Wilmington, NC area. Aponi uses a HIPPA compliant telehealth and communications platform that is user-friendly. All therapy/counseling services will follow all NC Social Work Licensing Board laws and regulations and NASW code of ethics and standards.
I specialize in adults living with stress, anxiety, depression, and grief/loss associated with being a caregiver.
May also address other issues that may include: anger, relationships, guilt/shame, trauma. Treatment modalities typically include: Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT), Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Shame-informed therapy, and Trauma-focused Therapy.
Anxiety Therapy
You May Experience:
A fast, racing heart, constant looping thought that cannot turn off, muscle tension or headaches, trouble falling or staying asleep, a need to have things exactly perfect to feel safe. You may feel a sense of dread or feel stuck in making decisions.
You do not have to live with a constant sense of dread. Anxiety Therapy helps you regain control of your life. It teaches you how to calm your mind and body.
Anxiety is more than just feeling nervous. It can impact every part of your day.
How Anxiety Therapy Helps:
Think of your brain like a computer with too many tabs open. Therapy helps you close those extra tabs. It organizes your thoughts. Therapy can help you learn how to identify irrational fear-based thoughts, reframe them into realistic perspectives, and break the cycle of avoidance.
What You Will Learn:
Identify Triggers: Learn exactly what causes your anxiety.
Challenge Negative Thoughts: Learn to stop the “what if” scenarios in your mind.
Build Coping Skills: Use simple breathing tools and grounding techniques to slow down panic.
Stress Management Therapy
Stress Management Therapy helps you to change how you react to everyday pressure. It teaches how you spot tension, stop negative thoughts, and relax your body. You get real tools to build a happier, healthier, and more balanced life.
You May Experience:
Your mind and body go into a “fight or flight” mode, you might feel nervous, irritable, overwhelmed, your thoughts may race, physically your heart might beat fast, your muscles can feel tight, and you might get a headache or nauseous.
How Stress Management Therapy Helps:
Think of like a car engine that is left running at top speed while the car is parked. The engine gets hot, shakes, and uses too much gas. That engine is your body. Stress pushes your system to work too hard for too long. Stress is a natural warning system in your body. When you deal with it for too long, it can make you sick or tired. Therapy helps you break that cycle.
What You Will Learn:
Setting Boundaries: Saying no and making time for yourself.
Identify what is causing your stress.
Learn Controlled Breathing: taking slow deep breaths to quickly calm your brain and body.
Learn Relaxation Tools: Practice quick, simple ways to calm your mind during the day.
Explore ways to rest/sleep better.
Mindfulness: Noticing your feelings without judgment so you can stay calm.
Time Management: Organizing your tasks so you do not feel rushed or overwhelmed.
Caregiver Stress and Burnout Management Therapy
Are you pouring from an empty cup? You give your all to care for a loved one. Learn to manage your stress, prevent burnout, and find peace again.
You May Experience:
Feeling tired, sad, anxious, overwhelmed, angry, ashamed, guilty, and stuck.
How Therapy can Help Caregivers:
Caring for someone else is hard work. It is easy to forget to care for yourself. You are not alone in this feeling. Up to 90% of family caregivers experience burnout. Caregiver burnout is a state of deep physical and mental exhaustion. When you are burned out, your health can suffer.
Therapy is not a sign of weakness. It is a tool to help you stay strong.
What You Will Learn:
Managing Guilt: Learn to let go of the idea that you must be “perfect.”
Setting Boundaries: Learn how to say no with less quilt.
Building a Team: Find ways to ask for and accept help from family or programs.
Relaxation Tools: Practice quick, simple ways to calm your mind during the day.
Depression Therapy
Think of depression like a dark, heavy coat. You carry it with you everywhere you go. Therapy helps you take off that coat. You will learn new ways to manage your heavy feelings.
You May Experience:
Everyone feels sad sometimes, but clinical depression is different. It makes you feel very down for a long time. It can make it hard to enjoy life, sleep, or do daily tasks. You may feel worthless, negative all the time and may have thoughts and/or plans for harming yourself or others.
**If you have suicidal/homicidal ideations and need immediate help, please call 988 (suicide prevention hotline) or go to your nearest emergency room.
How Depression Therapy Helps:
It helps you safely talk about difficult feelings/emotions. It teaches you how to recognize and change thought patterns that impact mood. It helps you get back to an enjoyable and healthy life. You do not have to carry this heavy weight alone. Therapy is a proven way to feel better and take back control of your life.
What You Will Learn:
Understand your feelings: Find out why you feel the way you do
Change negative thoughts: Learn to look at things in a better way.
Build new habits: Find small ways to bring joy and energy back to your day.
Solve problems: Learn simple, daily steps to deal with tough times.
Grief/Loss Counseling
Grief Counseling offers a safe space to process the pain of a profound loss.
A loss can be from a death or non-death, such as relationship breakup, job layoff, shift in health, or unmet life expectations. Grief counseling will help you navigate heavy emotions, build healthy coping skills, and find meaning moving forward. It is not about “getting over” the loss but about integrating it into your life.
You May Experience:
You may feel deep sadness, shock, or numbness. You may feel angry, guilty, or fearful. You could feel like part of you is missing.
It often causes physical signs like exhaustion, a racing heart, and trouble sleeping. You may feel weak, tight in the chest, or have an upset stomach. It is similar to the stress you feel when you are sick or scared.
You may want to withdraw from others and stop doing things you enjoy. It is hard to think clearly or make choices. You might feel confused or forget things easily.
Think of grief like a heavy backpack. You cannot take the backpack off, but you can learn how to adjust the straps, so it feels a little lighter. Healing happens gradually at your own pace. There is no right or wrong way to grieve.
How Grief Counseling Helps:
Grief is like a heavy storm. One day you feel calm, and the next day the sadness hits hard. It is normal for it to change day by day. You do not have to walk this path alone. Professional support helps reduce prolonged distress and prevents isolation.
What You Will Learn:
Resilience Building: You will learn practical strategies to manage stress, sleep issues, and daily routines.
Meaning Making: Therapists help you find ways to honor your loved one while building a new normal.
Other Services
Workshops and Classes
Workshops and classes will be available in person, with limited seating, for any adult who may be a caregiver and anyone interested in learning more about how to effectively cope with stress, anxiety, depression, grief/loss (including feelings of anger, guilt/shame). Each session will last 60 to 90 minutes and will consist of psycho-education and small group discussions. The cost for attendance will range from $35 to $50 per person. The primary goal for each session is to educate participants and provide clinical interventions aimed at relieving caregiver stress and prevent burnout, as well as, improve overall self-care practices.
- Reflections of a Caregiver: An art therapy approach to managing caregiver stress
- Get Off the Struggle Bus: How to get unstuck when anxious
- Living Grief: What is it preparing
Wait list now forming for the fall.
Life Coaching Services
If you do not meet the criteria for a mental health disorder after your first session and you want to focus on future goal planning and not resolving past issues, you can choose our 1-to-1 life coaching option instead.
There is a distinct difference between mental health therapy services and life coaching services. Mental health therapy will focus on addressing symptoms from diagnostic criteria (e.g., anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc.) and is typically covered by insurance. Life coaching services are more focused on helping to meet future goals and are NOT covered by insurance.
From the first session, we will formulate a goal plan and utilize my S.A.L.T. method for problem-solving and goal planning to execute changes in your life, relationship, and/or career. Let’s shake things up a bit and add some S.A.L.T. to your life.
