Services
- Individual
About My Clients
You feel like everyone was given a handbook on how to live, except for you. You're not as connected to your emotions and instincts as others seem to be. You shut down around conflict or when people express strong emotions. You're known as a peacemaker, but peace-making hasn't been able to save some relationships. Perhaps you feel depressed, unmotivated, shut down, self-conscious, or suffer from low self-esteem. You have the feeling that you have so much potential yet to be met.
My Background and Approach
We're going to sit down and talk to each other about what's going on with you. I'm going to be curious, warm, and authentic. At some point, if it feels comfortable, we'll likely explore your past for the roots of what's going on, not because we want to blame others for your suffering, but because gaining an understanding of our past usually helps us have more compassion for ourselves in the present. When hard things come up, we're going to look at them together with curiosity, mercy, mindfulness, and with absolutely no judgment. This will inevitably cause other scary things to surface--because they will now feel welcome to do so--and we'll process those too, taking as long as we need. When we do this together repeatedly, we'll find that your ability to experience and understand your own pain becomes greater, both in and outside of session. We'll start to get the sense that my help is no longer required, and you'll leave therapy with a deep and calm connection to yourself.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
I'm a lay Buddhist practitioner. The way I conceive of human suffering is informed by the truth of interconnectedness: The more we realize we're not separate from each other, the happier we are. Conversely, the more we invest in the illusion of separateness, the more we suffer. As much as I hold this to be so deeply true, I'm also a cis-hetero-white-male, historically conditioned to profit off the illusion of separation. I believe I have a responsibility to end this practice and the suffering it causes. One way I practice this is by working in therapy with people who have been similarly conditioned, to discover how we are harmed by the systems we've created. I also welcome the opportunity to sit with members of the BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ communities, albeit with the sober recognition that--despite my experience and best efforts--my conditioned alienation from aspects of your humanity may show up in unpleasant ways from time to time.