With Awareness Comes Action
A2C uses the W.A.C.A. model to empower Self and the
community through therapy, training & clinical
evaluations

Our Team

DR. PATRICIA TIMERMAN BARBOSA DA SILVA, LMHC, LMFT, QS, NCC

Executive Director

Languages: English, Portuguese, and Spanish

Insurance Accepted: Aetna, Cigna, as well as Oxfor, United HealthCare, and Oscar Health through Headway, and any out-of-network insurance

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My name is Dr. Patricia Timerman Barbosa da Silva (Dr. T for short) and I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of Florida and the Executive Director of Advocate2Create (2012).

I have devoted much of my work towards grief and immigration, focusing on suicide grief and on composing clinical evaluations for immigration purposes for over 11 years. Concurrent with trauma survivorship, I also specialize in anxiety management and couples therapy, specifically communication, developing my own communication model. 

Grief and Trauma:

From a grief perspective, I have not only devoted a large portion of my professional and academic/ research endeavors in further understanding and working with suicide grief, but I also have a personal experience with it, being a survivors of suicide grief myself. In additiont to grief, I also work with trauma survivorship, including past experiences of physical, psychological, and emotional abuse.

Couple Therapy/ Communication:

Through my work with couples and my own experiences, I have developed what I call the IAP Model: Intention Action Perception, which serves as a "Google Translate" of communication. In using my IAP Model, I strive to help my clients identify and implement actionable coping skills and communication tool to better help us understand one another, and essentially, create our own language, making sure that our communication stops getting lost in translation. I also like to integrate components from Gottman and Chapman in my work with couples.

Anxiety Management:

Additionally, through my own struggles with anxiety, I have focused on actionable coping skills for managing anxiety, along with actionable coping skills to help on communication. You can check some of the videos/worksheet I have created in Advocate2Create’s training platform: Advocate2Create.Teachabe.com.

Clinical Evaluation for Immigration Purposes:

As for composing clinical evaluations for immigration purposes, I have extensive experience and expertise in the matter, having had the unique opportunity of working at an Immigration Law Firm while pursuing my Master’s Degree in Psychotherapy. I compose clinical evaluation for VAWA, U-Visa, T-Visa, Asylum, and Extreme Hardship Waiver.

procurando por uma terapeuta brasileira, não hesite em me ligar.  Si requiere una terapeuta que habla español, no hesite en llamarnos. 

 

MICHELLE HART, LMHC

Therapist

Languages: English and Spanish

Insurance Accepted: Aetna, Cigna, as well as Oxfor, United HealthCare, and Oscar Health through Headway, and any out-of-network insurance

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My name is Michelle Hart and I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of Florida. I specialize in working with teen girls and women who are in need of emotional support in improving their self-esteem, putting themselves first, and gaining control of their life. Setting aside time for our mental, emotional, and physical well-being in our busy schedule can be difficult, leaving us feeling anxious, tired, or overwhelmed on a daily basis. These can be signs of burnout: a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive stress. I will guide you in creating boundaries that allow a healthy balance between school, work, and time for yourself.

In therapy, we will work together on understanding the anxious mind and why we feel the way we feel sometimes. My goal is to help you better understand your thoughts and emotions by tracking them and learning about patterns and triggers to your sadness or anxiety. Together we will identify and address fears that are making you feel unhappy, unmotivated, and worthless while establishing and implementing organizational behaviors and thought patterns to create healthy, long lasting boundaries. We will also learn about coping skills and how to use them to help lower anxious symptoms, control negative thinking, and practice mindfulness.

Therapy is an opportunity for you to express your thoughts and emotions, sorting through to allow authentic and active choices on how you want to live your life rather than reacting to life. Through this process, my role is to help you find a balance in your life where you can learn how to love yourself by fully taking care of yourself. Let us together take the next step in helping you remember YOU.

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