Katie Brooks
LCSW
Clinical Social Worker/Therapist
Encinitas, USA
Answers questions in Addiction Treatment · Anger Management · Anxiety
About Katie Brooks
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Catherine Brooks and I am a Board Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work with specialized focus on children, youth and family.
Due to the vast knowledge I have gained working within the behavioral health field, I am fully aware of the complex nature of all Axis I, Axis II and co-occurring disorders. I have vast experience within the geriatric community and I continue to treat this population. I led a partial hospitalization program treating adult and geriatric patients who suffered with symptoms such as Depression, Anxiety, Grief, Chronic illness, substance abuse, eating disorders and many more. In addition, from my work with the Department of Children and Family Services, I have extensive experience in treating abused children and families in crisis. I earned a prestigious scholarship from the Inter-university Consortium Program for a one year paid internship with focus on intensive training in cultural diversity (including LGBT community), family dynamics, child abuse, substance abuse, chronic illness/ grief, and domestic violence. I Worked collaboratively with LAPD stabilizing hectic environments, investigating crime/ abuse, and protecting at-risk children in immediate danger. I preformed crisis intervention with both parents and children, conducted risk and safety assessment of home, parents and environment, and managed custody disputes and child alienation cases.
Currently, I split my time between private practice, training with Phoenix Rising to facilitate yoga therapy with patients who suffer from trauma and eating disorders, and The Eating Disorder Center of San Diego. In addition, I volunteer my time as a Disaster Relief Specialist with the American Red Cross. Hope to meet you soon :)
What I do
I am a passionate Board Certified Therapist located in Encinitas, Ca. I am dedicated to building the bridge between mental and physical well being. Are you in pain from a recent divorce, having difficulty managing your relationships, or experiencing depression and anxiety? My counseling is based upon the idea that intense emotions are a symptom of an underlying challenge or transition. Depression might feel like the problem, but it is really the signal that there is imbalance somewhere within your life. For example, you would not continue to run if you could feel that your ankle was broken. The pain is the messenger that demands you to stop. Ignoring emotional discomfort can be just as debilitating and risks further damage. It doesn't matter if you are recently divorced, depressed, constantly worrying or struggling with loss, coming to a decision to address mental discomfort is brave and the first step to emotional freedom. Congratulations for making it to this website.
Upon our first meeting we will collaboratively assess the areas of your life that are causing pain or discomfort. This requires a comprehensive assessment of many areas of your life and a creative, non judgemental treatment plan will be devised with your help. I am interested in helping you to manage overwhelming feelings, make sense out of anxious and depressed states, uncover solutions to your problems, re-build the connection within your relationships, and guide effective planning for your future with LOVING KINDNESS.
I have a skillful approach that blends western psychotherapy (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy) with eastern methods of healing (yoga and mindfulness techniques) that will encourage you to engage both your mind and body. This organic whole person method of healing will guide you toward relating to yourself and others with understanding, acceptance, patience, flexibility, appreciation and joy.
Lastly, I believe that you have all the answers that you need in order to gain emotional freedom. I will help you to access these answers in a safe and compassionate way. Growth and healing can begin here.
My story
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Catherine Brooks and I am a Board Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work with specialized focus on children, youth and family.
Due to the vast knowledge I have gained working within the behavioral health field, I am fully aware of the complex nature of all Axis I, Axis II and co-occurring disorders. I have vast experience within the geriatric community and I continue to treat this population. I led a partial hospitalization program treating adult and geriatric patients who suffered with symptoms such as Depression, Anxiety, Grief, Chronic illness, substance abuse, eating disorders and many more. In addition, from my work with the Department of Children and Family Services, I have extensive experience in treating abused children and families in crisis. I earned a prestigious scholarship from the Inter-university Consortium Program for a one year paid internship with focus on intensive training in cultural diversity (including LGBT community), family dynamics, child abuse, substance abuse, chronic illness/ grief, and domestic violence. I Worked collaboratively with LAPD stabilizing hectic environments, investigating crime/ abuse, and protecting at-risk children in immediate danger. I preformed crisis intervention with both parents and children, conducted risk and safety assessment of home, parents and environment, and managed custody disputes and child alienation cases.
Currently, I split my time between private practice, training with Phoenix Rising to facilitate yoga therapy with patients who suffer from trauma and eating disorders, and The Eating Disorder Center of San Diego. In addition, I volunteer my time as a Disaster Relief Specialist with the American Red Cross. Hope to meet you soon :)
Why life is worth living
Life is a precious gift full of unknown surprises. You never know when life will turn around or you begin to notice the smallest expressions of giving and recieving love.
Treatment Offered
Specialties
Therapy approaches
Patient population
Modalities
Answered Questions(17)
Eating Disorders
my friend told me that she made herself throw up and she stopped eating for two days cause her sister called her fat but she told me she's going to stop and knows it's unhealthy for her. What can I do to help her and would exercising with her help her stop?? She also seems really stressed out lately, is there anything I can do to help her get through this??
Read answer →Support for a Friend in Rehabilitation
I'm not hearing from my good friend who was just court ordered into a free California drug rehab facility for a year. I'm trying to discover what full time residents are and aren't allowed to do. He's angry with me but not enough to stop all communication....but I really don't know this for certain. I'm having difficulty getting any info out of the main office running the facility/home he's staying at as far as his freedoms are concerned, if he's allowed to go somewhere within reason. If there's a curfew it says to me that he is. How are these freedoms monitored? Can he visit other people who are in his program? Can he use a public telephone while he's away from the house? What are typical rules/regulations at state run houses for full time residents? I basically understand his daily curriculum but on Sundays I believe he has a free day. What's he allowed to do on those days? Does he have access to a phone or computer? I don't want to feel angry he's ignoring me only to discover he has no way to contact me other than writing me letters. On the other hand I don't want him eventually blaming his silence on "rules" when the truth was he just didn't want to talk to me. I cannot discover these answers anywhere. I hate to keep calling their main office and asking more questions when they're not very forthcoming to begin with. I miss my friend very much. Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Read answer →Eating Disorders
I am not trying to diet but sometimes I can’t help it but do the tricks I know. I am too skinny already (I know this so I don’t have any false body issues) but when I actually do lose a pound or two I get so happy even though I know that I actually don’t need to lose weight. I think it’s probably a bit of an eating disorder that I have but mostly I am in charge. If I can pick a weight that’s OK and stick to that weight does that mean I don’t have to worry about how I think about eating? I don’t do any purging or binging.
Read answer →Opiates and breastfeeding
If a mom takes norcos while breastfeeding all the time will the baby get addicted to opiates? If the baby is already addicted to opiates what is the best way for this baby to stop being addicted without having to go through bad withdrawal pains. If the mom slowly lowers the amount she takes over a month or two months until she is not taking any anymore will the baby slowly get off the opiates without feeling the withdrawal pains? I am asking for a friend of mine who relapsed after she had her baby and she is too scared to tell her doctor because she thinks they will probably take her daughter away from her. She doesn’t know what to do and she is so upset about it.
Read answer →Anger Management
I have an anger problem. When I get angry if I don’t let it out I feel like I will explode. Trying to relax doesn’t work for me. I have a problem with getting really angry at myself and everything when I get frustrated. Like today in maths I just couldn’t do the problem and I didn’t know what I was doing wrong and I just got so frustrated that I couldn’t even think. And then because I couldn’t let my anger out my head was so full of hate and anger I couldn’t think straight to even listen or think and the whole class was wasted and now I am even more confused. I need a way to release my anger in a way that’s not going to get me kicked out of class or make my look like a crazy weirdo.
Read answer →Substance Abuse Treatment
I am a cocaine addict and I am a daily heavy drinker. I do not think I am an alcoholic but I think I am physically addicted to alcohol. I tried to stop on my own last month and I had to stop when the shaking got so bad I realized I was in danger. I tried to wean myself off alcohol but this was hopeless. I am on a waiting list at the county medical detox and I am supposed to go in next week. They are strongly recommending that I do their intensive outpatient program after. I am not sure if I can stay clean on my own. I can manage to stop drinking but I cannot stay off cocaine and then when I do cocaine I always drink. I do not have health insurance so I would have to find some free rehab somewhere like maybe at the Salvation Army. Do you recommend that I do the intensive outpatient program or the free rehab?
Read answer →Marijuana Withdrawal
Will a doctor prescribe marinol for someone who has difficult marijuana withdrawal issues. I read about this but my doctor said she couldn’t prescribe a controlled substance like that for marijuana withdrawal. Do you know if some doctors will prescribe this? I know you can't comment on specifics...but in general, have you ever heard of doctors using this in America?
Read answer →28 day Rehab
For privacy reasons I would prefer not to have an insurance record of my drug addiction treatment. I would like a 28 day rehab program. I do not need anything fancy but I would like quality care and I would like to get into a program within a couple of weeks to coincide with downtime at work (so no waiting lists). What is the minimum I should expect to pay for this. Is $8000 going to be enough to find what I need? Can you recommend any programs, preferably in California but nearby states are also OK?
Read answer →Does coffee have any influence on OCD?
Does coffee have any influence on OCD? My brother drinks like 10 cups a day but swears it has no effect on things. I am not so sure…
Read answer →Trying to taper down from Tramadol
I am addicted to Tramadol. I am trying to taper down. I am down to 300 mgs a day. I used to be doing 800 mgs a day which is twice the recommended daily max and well into the seizure risk zone so I dodged a bullet in never having a bad effect over the last 5 years that I was taking them I guess. I was always taking the instant release IR 50s. I am trying to taper down by 5% a week. I know this is slow but seriously any faster than this and I really feel messed up. Last week I couldn’t get the 50 ir capsules and I picked up some 100 mg extended release tablets instead. This is the first time I ever tried. The ers are supposed to last for 24 hours and the irs are only about 6 hours or so. The experience was quite different. The irs definitely give a better buzz and warm happy feeling but the ers give me a much more stable, generally feeling OK feeling all the time (but I am always sort of waiting for that feeling of them kicking in…and it never really comes). I was thinking that I might be better off tapering off the more stable ers rather than the more up and down irs? Does this make sense? Also because the ers don’t give me a buzz and I guess this is something I need to learn to live without if I am going to be able to live without tramadol at all at some point. But I am having trouble finding out if you can cut an er table in half without then dumping all the drug into your system at once (once you have ruined the exterior coating). Can you recommend a way to taper using the ers?
Read answer →Binge Eating Disorder Treatment
I am a 32 year old binge eating male. I have been binging for 6 years. I do not purge. I am dangerously overweight. I am sick of living like this. I want to get treatment. Diets do not work for me. Nutrition plans do not work for me. I have a compulsion that is beyond my control. I understand this now. I have never had any kind of therapy or psychiatric treatment before but I suspect I also have borderline clinical anxiety and depression on top of the BED although I think that much of my anxiety and depression gets mixed up with the tension and shame of the eating. I feel like I want to really get away at a rehab type place but most of these places seem to be for people who already have a treatment team and all that. How do I get started with treatment? Is a residential facility going to be an appropriate place for a male of my age? Can you recommend a good facility for someone with my types of problems?
Read answer →Weed Withdrawal: Reducing Anxiety and Agitation
Do you know much about L-Theanine. It’s supposed to be this supplement that induces alpha waves in the brain and makes you feel calm and not anxious and from what I heard it helps reduce anxiety and irritability and insomnia that come when you quit marijuana. I am a long time smoker, frequent quitter and unfortunately equally frequent relapser so I know what to expect when I try to quit again by Mother’s day. It seems safe enough but I can’t get much solid info on whether it actually makes a difference for weed withdrawal. Do you know?
Read answer →Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Is it ocd if I have to repeatedly lock my car over and over again. I will lock it and then wlking in to the shop or whatever and then I will have to turn back and relock it and then because there are two buttons on my car locker I start wondering if I accidentally unlocked it so I will need to lock it again…and on it goes until I eventually start to feel very self conscious for standing like a crazy man in the parking lot locking my car over and over again. Even when my wife tells me I have done it I still need to go back and do it again. I don’t do anything else crazy like this but this is starting to become very weird and beyond my control.
Read answer →Eating Disorder?
So I stopped drinking like 6 months ago and I have lost 30 pounds since then. I am close to rocking a 6 pack which is something I never believed I would ever see grace my portly-since-i-was-a-kid body. SO this is good. But what’s weird is now that I am all of a sudden in good shape I am feeling obsessed with counting my calories and exercising and trying to get to that body I have always wanted. I think about it all the time. All the time. I am always checking myself out in the mirror and making plans to exercise and reading about health and fitness a lot. So my best friend was anorexic in her teens and she says I am starting to scare her because I am getting weirdly obsessed. SO this worries me. But if anything was the matter I would be feeling anxious about how I look, not feeling great about it, right?
Read answer →Anger management
Do online anger management classes work or are they just a waste of time?
Read answer →Coping with Anxiety
I have a lot of anxiety. When I had to give a speech last week that I was very worried about my doctor gave me a short prescription for beta blockers and it really helped me a lot. Could I just use beta blockers all the time? I know that it is silly but the physical signs of anxiety always make me feel worse and then it is just a downward spiral to anxiety, even when I am just breathing fast from chasing after the bus or something.
Read answer →Food Served with Love
Is there a particular type of diet that is most protective of good mental health? Like paleo or meditaranean or fruitarian or whatever! I am willing to make dietary changes because I am in remission from depression and life is beautiful and I want to stay where I am but I am just overwhelmed and confused by all the information out there and nobody seems to agree on the same things!!!
Read answer →




































