Specialties

I work with individuals, couples and families. Below are some of my specialties. To talk to me in person, contact me. 

Relationship Concerns

Whether you are troubled by a relationship with a loved one, family member, colleague or friend, human relationships can cause some of the worst pain.  My first goal will be to reduce the stress of the initial crisis that has brought you into therapy. Then I will work with you to discover how your feelings about yourself with regard to others are related to the problems you find yourself having.  These may be such longstanding issues as codependency, self-esteem challenges, anxiety or depression. All or any of these can lead to feeling trapped in similar situations time and again. Life doesn’t have to be so hard!

It takes heart and courage to change the way you relate to yourself in others, as well as a plan with steps to make those changes happen.  I will support you as you define what those steps are. With the right tools and the motivation to use them, your relationships will improve.

Problems with career or work are often difficult to address all by oneself.  Right now, you may be feeling like there might be something wrong with you or someone else. It might be feeling harder to go to work in the morning, or you may find yourself overwhelmed when you think about needed career changes.  Some people respond to work stress by just working harder, while others duck out as much as they can. Neither of these is an optimal response.

Our contributions to the world of work may be made either joyfully or with discomfort, drudgery and fear.  So much depends upon our mental attitude about our work, our expectations and how we think we should be treated by others. On top of that, it is often impossible to extricate our feelings about ourselves from how we work.  This is when having a supportive therapist can really make a difference.

Whether you want to create sustainable goals at your present job, improve relationships with those with whom you work or even switch careers, I will work with you to help you find satisfaction in this tremendously important part of your life.

Depression, anxiety, anger, loss - these are just a few of the mental health concerns people come into therapy with.  Perhaps no area is as sensitive as one's concerns about the affect of past or present trauma in one’s life. Because facing trauma can be daunting or seem impossible to change, often people resign themselves to being depressed, anxious, sad, or even addicted or codependent. Although the effects of trauma may be pervasive and long-standing, I believe it is possible to ameliorate the legacy of trauma and find lasting positive change.

I will work with you carefully and patiently, to support your finding the right path for you to take in order to feel better and rid yourself of old patterns and habits with regard to trauma. You deserve the space to know your true self and to gain control of your own mind no matter what has happened to you.

Losing hope is the worst thing that can happen to a person. I believe that no situation is hopeless, and that each of us is has the innate creativity needed to change a stuck, defeating situation. We are so much more than the roles our families, friends, employers ask us to play for them.

Personal power develops through having the right tools and the motivation to use them. No one can make you stay stuck against your will. I will work with you to help you take the steps necessary to change your perception of what you can accomplish.  You have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.

I believe it is up to every person to decide whether or not they want to address spiritual issues in this life. Most people do decide that it is important to develop a sense of meaning in their lives, and to put in place ethical standards to live by.  Some call this process spirituality.

Working on spiritual issues can also mean the cultivation of a spiritual path, practicing faith or religion or creating a personal lens that helps one to organize the way they interact with the world. All of these can be key components in psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy can make the difference between living a vital and important life, just going around in circles, or making a mess out of one's life.

Therapy is about listening to a person to find out what they really want. I believe that clients know deep down what they want and that it is my job to help them find ways to get there. This process is goal setting. 

No two people set goals the same way.  Some prefer talking and feedback.  Others use art, mind mapping, meditation or contemplation.  Still others like structured homework and "fieldwork" assignments.  I will work with you to make sure the style we use is the one that makes goal setting accessible to you.

You deserve to get what you really want. The test of whether you have reached your goals is if the results are even better than you had initially imagined.  This is possible because when you follow through on goals you are elevated. Reaching goals gives you a broader vision and better opportunities to appreciate who you are and where there you can go next.

This is your chance to consciously think about, plan and prepare to make what may be the biggest decision of your life. Whether or not you end up deciding to parent, the clarity of your thought about this decision can help give you the peace of mind and the ability to move forward, one way or the other. 

It takes more preparation to get a driver's license than it does to become a parent. Think about what kind of world it would be if people actually decided whether, when, why and how they wanted to parent.

To consider parenthood means deciding who you want to have a child with and who will help raise your child, what your parenting style will look like, how you will juggle time, money and your career, and even what method you will use to bring a child into your life. By examining these and many more aspects of parenthood, one becomes clear about whether the choice to parent is the best choice for oneself. It helps those who go on to parent more aware of what is involved and more confident in their capacity to parent.