Services
- Individual
About My Clients
My clients are curious about themselves and their problems and are interested in growing beyond their problems. They want to understand why things aren't working well and what is getting in their way. They might be curious about their dreams or they might just want a safe, caring relationship to figure themselves out within. I often work with depression, anxiety, insecure attachment, grief and loss, highly sensitive persons, and relationship difficulties.
My Background and Approach
I trained at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center in psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy. This kind of therapy helps clients to understand themselves at a deeper level while experiencing a relationship that is caring and nonjudgmental, which is often the first time a client has ever been truly accepted and listened to. Psychoanalytic therapy is depth oriented, that is, it pays attention to what is unconscious or only vaguely known in us that influences our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Everyone has a host of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations that they aren’t fully aware of which influence how they think, feel, and behave. As we become more aware of these previously unclear or hidden parts of ourselves new opportunities to chose how we act, think, and approach things become available. In therapy we work together to help you understand the parts of yourself that you haven’t gotten to know well yet and accept them while also working to change them.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
I believe that the most fundamental healing factor in therapy is the relationship between therapist and client. This relationship, if it is experienced as genuine, caring, curious, nonjudgmental and even playful at times, helps clients to learn on a deep emotional level that they are acceptable, worthy of attention and care, that it is possible to share their deepest shames, fears, and hurts, and that these can be accepted and held without judgment from another person. Many people have never experienced this kind of relationship and it is profoundly healing over time. Within this kind of relationship a patient can come to feel safe enough to risk knowing themselves more deeply and expressing themselves more genuinely, in ways that often surprise clients. I believe that if you can feel safe enough and seen enough with me, then we can explore your mind and life together and we will find that you can change and grow beyond much of the pain that brings you to therapy.