Taylor has sought after training, work and volunteer experience’s that have helped shape her framework and specific focus areas:
As a practicum student at My Sister’s House, Taylor began training to become a trauma-informed therapist by directly working with women who were transitioning out of homelessness. She had the privilege to support many through events including sudden unemployment, substance abuse, domestic violence, childhood trauma, and untreated mental health concerns that stemmed from high parental conflict during the early years.
As an intern at the Safe Alliance Domestic Violence Shelter, Taylor took her previous training into expanding her focus on supporting clients who were dealing with multiple types of trauma in addition to domestic violence. She supported families who were in crisis situations and this includes ages 2 years old up to adult parents. Taylor provided individual counseling services which included a focus on play therapy for children. She also facilitated psychoeducational and expressive arts groups for young children, teenagers, and adults that focused on self-esteem, healing and safety. She learned that each of her clients had experienced high parental conflict during their childhood and adulthood. She accepted her clients for who they were, and created a safe therapeutic relationship that encouraged resilience and healing.
On a previous page, Taylor’s experience in elementary education was mentioned. During her training to become a therapist, Taylor went back into the elementary school setting at Veritas Community School where she continued to expand on her training to work with children and parents along the way. She focused on providing play therapy services to children who were grieving, adjusting to abrupt changes, and experiencing parental separation/divorce and single parenting. Taylor enjoyed collaborating with the teachers and school staff to best support her elementary aged clients.
Taylor co-facilitated social skills groups for children with Autism and ADHD at Dandelion Family Counseling. Her past in working with elementary aged children in the school setting taught her that children are often misdiagnosed with ADHD during their experiences of trauma. So, she planned her time here to learn about the signs and symptoms of ADHD to strengthen her skillset in working with trauma. She felt this would be the best setting because their entire population focuses on children who come from various backgrounds with this specific diagnosis. Taylor does not focus on supporting children with ADHD at this time, but her experience here has taught her how to quickly detect signs of ADHD so that she can refer families to her trusted network of clinicians who can continue to thoroughly support (which includes Dandelion Family Counseling) .
Taylor was a primary therapist at The Renfrew Center in Charlotte, NC where she provided individual counseling and facilitated psychoeducational and processing groups for women struggling in their relationships with food and body image. Her clients were ages 13 and up. 95% of the time, her clients had come to the location because they were struggling to cope with early childhood experiences that often dealt with abuse, racial trauma, and high parental conflict.
At Zola Counseling, Taylor was a lead therapist who specialized in supporting the root causes of what many of her past clients dealt with; parental conflict and divorce/separation. She supported up to 23 clients per week with a focus of 16 children presenting with concerns in regards to parent separation/divorce. Often times, those same 16 were experiencing concerns in addition to the parental conflict which include trauma, adjustment to change, racial trauma, grief and loss, perfection behaviors and self-esteem. Taylor prioritized a connection with the parents of her child clients by making sure to keep them up to date and supported them with strategies they could use to become therapeutic agents in their homes.
Now, as the owner of The Empathy Nest, Taylor strives to continue her focus in supporting children who witness high parental conflict or are grieving a change that has occurred in their family dynamics. Taylor advocates for her clients by helping parents and significant caregivers understand their child’s point of view, and her passion supports a strong therapeutic relationship with children that helps create growth and resilience for the entire family. She is honest and capable of helping families move further towards possible change.
Taylor is also the lead of her online Instagram community, @KidsRCapable, where she provides free educational resources to over 20,000 parents and significant caregivers around the world.
Taylor is also a monthly volunteer at Classroom Central in Charlotte, NC where she packs and sorts free school supplies/hygiene kits for teachers with students in need. These supplies reach nearly 200 schools across six school districts in the Charlotte Region.
Taylor has served on the UNC Charlotte panel for parents hosted by the UNC-Charlotte Multicultural Play Therapy Department, has presented on emotional development for Backpack Plus Family Resources, and is a member of the Advisory Counsel for Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy.