Catherine Garcia-brake

I've been practicing social work with a spiritual base for 36 years. I began at Rikers Island, NYC jail working with persons with AIDS, mentally ill, drug abusing Lesbians (special grant -- mostly worked with men), and others having difficulty coping with their situation. Then I worked with families and community outreach when I first moved to Georgia during the preparation for the Olympics and they needed Spanish-speaking social workers for all of the new immigrant families of the construction workers. That work transitioned into full-time work with families and students through schools for 27 years with every issue you can imagine -- depression, suicide, low economics, academics, autism, learning disabilities, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnant teens, sandwich parents (caring for their parents and their kids), deportation, etc.

My style is eclectic because everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for another. I believe I'm pretty good at telling if I have a good fit with clients, so I'll be honest with you and suggest other therapists if I don't feel like we work well together. I prefer solution-focused therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy because I believe in teaching someone to fish so they can eat for a lifetime. I want to work myself out of a job, which means you have learned to transfer the skills we work on to other events and can handle the next crisis or bump in the road yourself.

I like for clients to fill out a survey before our first session so that I know what you are looking for before we begin. That way we can get started from day one. You can only get out of therapy as much as you put into it, so if you aren't willing to put in some work, I'm probably not the right therapist for you. I even give homework sometimes. Oh NO! Just food for thought really, but it can really help us move forward in our work together.