Services
- Individual
- Couples
About My Clients
I see individuals coming to terms with physical or sensory disabilities, chronic illness and/or life-threatening or terminal illness. I work with people struggling with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, shame, unfinished family of origin business, identity issues, life transitions, grief and trauma. I see all kinds of couples and I specialize in working with those where a trauma history or illness or disability are an issue.
My Background and Approach
When working with individuals, I use Emotion-Focused Therapy, existential therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, and a version of Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems Therapy pioneered by trauma expert Janina Fisher. I also pay attention to people’s histories in order to understand how their past development and experiences might be affecting their current capacity to live well in the present and imagine a future. In couples counseling, I use Emotionally Focused Therapy to help partners deeply reconnect on the level of needs and feelings (as opposed to having that same unproductive argument over and over again). Once couples have learned to communicate in a way that is likely to get their needs met and have had help in healing breaches of trust, they generally find they can solve other problems without therapeutic help.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
I believe that people contain the seeds of their own authenticity and development, and that it is the therapist’s job to help the client remove what blocks his or her natural growth. Primarily, I am an attachment-based therapist. This means that, when working with individuals, I am working to improve the relationship among parts of the personality, and, when working with couples, I am working to shore up the bond between partners. I am also an experiential therapist. This means that I help clients have change-creating experiences in the here-and-now of the session that are different from what happens in their normal lives; I tend towards trying things and doing things, rather than talking about things, although talking certainly happens.