Hi, I’m Amy Sobrino. I am a licensed clinical social worker

and have worked within a variety of settings including crisis

helplines, long-term care communities, higher education,

libraries, and non-profit organizations supporting people living

with dementia and their families. I have a passion for helping

people who care for others.​

 

I discovered this passion through my own caregiving journey.

I was ten years old when my grandmother was

diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Over the course of her 

disease, I helped with a variety of caregiving tasks

including meal preparation, personal care assistance, coordination of hospice care, and comfort in her last days. As a caregiver, I truly had no idea what I was doing. I had limited knowledge about what Alzheimer’s was, no strategies to make caregiving more manageable, and few ways to help myself cope with the grief and caregiving tasks I could have never expected.​

 

Fast forward several years – after a challenging journey with infertility, my husband and I were looking forward to welcoming our first child, a baby girl. After what I thought would be a normal repeat ultrasound, I was told that our baby was having blood flow issues and struggling to grow, measuring less than the first percentile in weight. I sat in disbelief as the physician explained that there would be multiple ultrasounds and non-stress tests every week until delivery and to be ready at any moment for an emergency c-section. After our eight weeks of limbo, the scheduled c-section date arrived and brought us our sweet four-pound baby. She was admitted to the NICU a couple of hours after birth and remained there for five weeks. Those five weeks were brutally difficult. She couldn’t eat on her own and had an NG tube. She was hooked up to wires measuring her oxygen levels and heart rate that beeped incessantly, sometimes signaling she needed oxygen. Similar to my caregiving experience with Alzheimer’s, as a parent, I truly had no idea what I was doing. I struggled to manage the trauma of my own pregnancy/postpartum experience while caring for a premature baby with an unknown hospitalization timeline. As a result, my ability to care for myself and prioritize my own well-being and wellness began to slip.  

 

I share these stories because I see them reflected in my client’s own stories every day. In our lives, many of us take on a role in which we care for someone else. Whether it is helping care for aging family members, raising children, or supporting a spouse dealing with a critical illness, many of us assume these roles with no training, minimal assistance, and little understanding of how to best support ourselves in this new identity. 

 

As a counselor, my goal is to help you gain perspective within this identity and learn strategies on how to focus on yourself and your well-being - not just because it’s essential to the people who rely on you, but because you are worthy of the same care and love you give everyone else. It’s an act of courage and bravery to truly prioritize yourself and begin to work through challenges and constructs that may be working against you. I’m constantly inspired by the resilience of my clients and consider it an honor to walk in partnership through some of their most challenging times and situations. Welcome, I look forward to meeting you.