WELCOME
I am so glad you found me...
and I don’t believe it was a coincidence. I hope you will find something here that will help you become a stronger, better version of yourself or enable you to understand or help someone you love. I hope you read something that will make you laugh and experience a moment of joy. Isn’t that what this is all about? By the way, your feedback is so welcome here. Over the years, my clients have been some of my greatest teachers, so please comment and write me! This is why I created this site- so we can share thoughts and figure out how to do this life together!
My professional background: I graduated from Columbia University with a Masters of Science in Social Work and completed my internship at Beth Israel Medical Center. I also worked at Mount Sinai’s adolescent health center, one of the largest adolescent clinics in the country. This is my 17th year in private practice in CT as a certified cognitive therapist. I am co-founder of a multi-specialty mental health group Integrative Counseling and Wellness Group in Wilton, CT where I treat anxiety in adults and adolescents. I also help clients with relationship issues and communication, self-esteem issues, personal goal development and stress management.
On the personal side: I have been married for 19 years to my Puerto Rican husband Ed and we have 4 amazing and sometimes challenging kids. I am a Brooklyn-born Sri Lankan-American that loves Jesus, coffee, chocolate, baking, talks about race and culture, faith, singing, being alone (you never are with 4 kids-never) and with great friends. I also love to read for pleasure, but full disclosure, fall asleep 4 pages in so don’t get very far… ahh one day……
I never envisioned my life as a therapist and author. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. Focused and determined, I worked hard for several years and planned for what I thought would be my dream career, yet a turn of events altered my course and led me down an unexpected path. Believing that there is always a purpose in these diversions, instead of fighting, I followed. Yet those roads were often dark and twisty and most of the time I couldn’t see the turns up ahead. Disappointment, confusion and self-doubt became the unwanted guests that would often visit me along my journey to discovering this unfamiliar place and sometimes they would stay while. But I kept going, my faith pushing me ahead when I was too tired and unsure, giving me enough light to see the next step, and believing that there was a God who wanted more for me than I could ask or imagine, even when I didn’t feel it. I look back now on that process and can see the gifts that were given to me along the way that enabled me to step into, navigate and embrace that new place- a richer, fuller, more beautiful place than what I ever dreamed it could be. And here was born my desire to guide people through the changes, those twists and turns, knowing that there is always the possibility of beauty, if we are open to it, on the journey and most definitely up ahead.
I look forward to exploring these new places with you.
Niro
