Katrina is a 17-year-old female client who received timely and effective therapeutic services that provided support for healing, tools for growth, and a bridge to stability at a vulnerable moment in her life. When mental health challenges were interrupting Katrina’s life in terms of her peer and family relationships as well as her academics, she was offered culturally sensitive support services through Aviva’s Mental Health Services program.
Katrina was experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem around body-image and food restricting, which resulted in Amenorrhea. She struggled with identifying and verbalizing her feelings and managing her own needs due to the perceived standards and expectations of her family and friends. In response, Katrina exhibited hyper-emotional behaviors, self-isolated, and restricted her food intake which resulted in a hospitalization due to unhealthy weight loss.
Through an individualized treatment approach, including weekly individual therapy, family sessions, case management and medication, Katrina and her family developed coping strategies to identify emotions, overcome communication barriers, and implement self-soothing practices. Katrina learned to manage her symptoms and behaviors, and in turn, to discontinue restricting her food intake. Over time, Katrina reached a normal, healthy weight. She is now able to use healthy coping strategies, implement boundaries with parents, friends, and food, and turn to her support system for help when needed. As a result of these improvements, Katrina had a very successful senior year. She graduated with a 4.2 GPA, and was accepted to the University of California, Los Angeles where she will begin her undergraduate studies in September 2023!