BAILEY PARARAS, LMSW

EXPERIENCE

I have worked in the mental health field since 2014 in various settings. In my career I have held roles working in outpatient crisis at Sheppard Pratt affiliate Mosaic Community Services, long-term case management and behavioral support plan training and implementation at The Arc Northern Chesapeake Region, and inpatient crisis behavioral health at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center floating between their adolescent, adult, and psychiatric emergency room units, where I still work part time. While completing my MSW degree I had the opportunity to have internships at Curtis Bay Elementary School providing school social work services and then at The University of Maryland, Baltimore at their Clinical Law Office providing forensic social work services to colleagues and clients. While attending my undergraduate degree I conducted research in the Social and Cognitive Psychology Lab at Towson University and co-authored a study on memory and the fear response presented at the annual meeting of The Psychonomic Society in 2014. I had the opportunity to volunteer in 2012 and 2013 at Camp Me Too through The Counseling Center at Stella Maris assisting with intensive group therapy with children and adolescents with significant grief experiences.

CURRENT TREATMENT FOCUS

I am passionate about helping others to feel empowered to transform their lives through therapy in a setting that is non-judgmental, empathic, collaborative, and healing. I use a holistic approach with my clients; considering their culture, biology, and life experiences both past and present, to help them gain comprehensive insights about themselves and their struggles so that they can identify skills they can use to promote lasting changes. I enjoy working with children and adolescents to help them understand typical experiences of distress for their level of development and how various mental health conditions such as grief, anxiety, depression, trauma, differing abilities, and ADHD can act as a barrier to managing these stressors and working on developing coping toolkits to help them overcome these barriers. This often involves a collaborative relationship with families and schools to help clients set and work towards person-centered goals for the future. In working with adults, I first aim to use DBT strategies to help my clients accept themselves where they are and to identify places where they want to change and working on strategies to help them do this using a variety of techniques based on needs. Working on increasing self-esteem first through psycho-education to normalize various mental health symptoms is a cornerstone of my work with clients, that can then lead to identifying person-centered goals and problem solving through ways to accomplish these goals. My expertise involves an interest in grief, trauma, ADHD, anxiety, depression, differing abilities, mood disorders, and personality disorders. I have advanced training in Employee Assistance Program administration and workplace and school stressors and how they impact mental health conditions is one of my core areas of focus.

TREATMENT APPROACH AND MODALITIES

In treatment I pull from a variety of methods depending upon client needs including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), psychodynamic theory, trauma-informed care, solution-formation, nervous system and somatic psycho-education, schema and attachment theories, meta cognitive theory, harm reduction, and mindfulness.

OUTSIDE OF SESSION

Outside of session I enjoy yoga, reading, various artistic and creative projects, seeing live music, watching sports, spending time on the water and outdoors, visiting museums, traveling, animals, and laughing and spending time with family and friends.

Bailey Pararas, LMSW, is a Licensed Master Social Worker, registered with the Maryland Board of Social Work, and is currently under the supervision of Jaimie Ryan, LCSW-C.