Helping People Find Therapists & Advocating for Ethical and Healthy Therapy & Marriage Counseling Practices

My Approach to Helping

People trust me - they just do. People only come to counseling when they're upset, angry, bitter, sad or hopeless. You want those feelings to go away. What I do is help you find your way back to feeling more contented, maybe even happy. It helps that I'm friendly, caring and wise. When partners are upset with each other, or kids and parents are at each others' throats, my job is to help them find out what they really want to do, which usually isn't really to hurt each other, but get their needs met. This is what I do, find those needs, and help you get them met, using compassion, insight and my years of experience helping people find peace.

 

More Info About My Practice

Clients are welcome to a free initial consultation to see what I'm like and if we are a good fit. Though I am not a "network provider" of insurance companies, they'll sometimes provide reimbursement if you arrange that in advance. As to my experience, I've treated about 2,400 adults and teenagers over the past 16 years, working for a county mental health agency up near Chico in Northern California, until I retired this year to Santa Cruz. There I was exposed to most mental conditions and handled crisis of all kinds. Here in Santa Cruz, I am developing a part-time practice, focused on couples therapy, adult issues and teen-parent mediation.

 

Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With

I am especially good at reducing the terrible effects of trauma (PTSD) on life, that make people feel alienated, angry, fearful, avoidant, depressed and anxious. I use not only my deeply caring personality, but a special technique called EMDR which goes way below the surface to really alleviate the underlying damage. So finally rather than a long, drawn-out war or unhappy prison, life can feel to you much more like an early summer day, full of ease, warmth, self-confidence, energy and good spirit, maybe even some real joy.

Services I Provide

• Individual Therapy & Counseling
• Marriage, Couples, or Relationship Counseling
• Family Therapy
• Group Therapy
• Mediation
• Coaching
• Clinical Supervision
• Home-Based Therapy

Ages I Work With

• Children
• Teens
• Adults
• Elders

Languages I Speak

• English

Groups I Work With

Couples, survivors of sexual/verbal abuse (using EMDR), young adults and teenagers, older and mid-life adults suffering from anxiety and/or depression, whole families

Therapy Approaches I Use

• Anger Management
• Biofeedback / Neurofeedback
• Body-Mind Psychotherapy
• Client-Directed Outcome-Informed Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy /REBT
• Conflict Resolution Therapy
• Core Process Psychotherapy
• Depth-Oriented Brief Therapy
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
• Emotion Focused Couples Therapy
• Emotion Focused Therapy
• Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
• Emotionally Focused Therapy
• Existential Psychotherapy
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
• Family Attachment Narrative Therapy
• Family Systems Therapy
• Feminist Therapy
• Focusing
• Gestalt Therapy
• Gottman Method
• Humanistic Psychology
• Imago Relationship Therapy
• Integral Psychotherapy
• Integration of different therapy models
• Internal Family Systems
• Interpersonal Psychotherapy
• Mindfulness Based Approaches
• Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
• Narrative Therapy
• Non-Violent Communication
• Object Relations
• Parent Work
• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
• Person Centered / Rogerian
• Play Therapy
• Positive Psychology
• Positive Psychotherapy
• Process Oriented Psychology
• Psychodynamic
• Reality Therapy
• Redecision therapy
• Relational Psychotherapy
• Relationship Enhancement Therapy
• Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy
• Schema Therapy
• Self Psychology
• Self Relations
• Solution Focused Therapy
• Soul-Centered Psychiatry
• Transactional Analysis
• Transpersonal Psychotherapy
• Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Trauma Relief Unlimited
• Voice Dialogue
• Wilderness Therapy

Concerns & Issues I Help With

• Identity Issues
• Attachment
• Trauma
• Abuse: Emotional, Physical, or Sexual
• Occupational & Academic Issues
• Addictions & Compulsions
• Life Changes
• Family Problems
• Childhood & Adolescence
• Social Skills & Problems
• Health & Body
• Anxiety, Fear, & Stress
• Emotion Management
• Depression & Mood
• Relationships & Marriage
• Reproduction
• Self-Esteem & Confidence
• Sexuality
• Spirituality
• Self-Harm & Suicide