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

My Approach to Helping

In our sessions, we use the tools of philosophy to empower you to think independently, confidently and courageously. In describing how philosophy informs a counseling practice, I find it useful to think of philosophy as architecture for the mind. Architects and designers think carefully about the spaces in which we live; they strive to make these spaces more coherent, more rational, more harmonious. In philosophical counseling, we approach issues of thought, feeling and choice in this same spirit. Architecture works on the structure of a building, we uncover the deepest aspects of your questions, pursue the clearest formulations of your thoughts, and build strong bridges toward objectivity; in doing all this together, we create more coherence, more order and more harmony.

Architecture offers a lovely analogy for philosophy, but there is also an essential difference between the two practices: If someone else designs your home, you can still perfectly well enjoy its excellent design. But if you want to enjoy the benefits of a well-designed mind, there is no way around the fact that you must do your thinking for yourself. In our work together, I take this fact very seriously as well. We work through open dialog and and frank discussion, rather than monologue. We focus on what seems true to you and why, in addition to what you feel, and why. We work towards logical solutions to difficult problems. In all of these ways, our goal is to bring clarity, confidence and courage into every department of your life.

 

More Info About My Practice

Rate Information: Getting philosophical help should not be a financial burden. I follow the American Philosophical Association's standard of using a sliding scale. A client's rate is between $70 and $210 per session, based on 0.1% of their annual household income, rounded up to the nearest $10. To figure out your rate, state what your annual household income is; now say the same number but drop the word 'thousand' (for example, "sixty three thousand" becomes "sixty three"); round it up to the nearest ten ("sixty three" becomes "seventy"). If that number is less than 70, you pay $70 per session. If it's between 70 and 210, you pay that amount per session. If it's above 210, you pay $210 per session.

 

How My Own Struggles Made Me a Better Therapist

I firmly believe that my own struggles, and my own engagement with philosophy, have assisted me to become a better counselor than I might otherwise be. There are, I think, many reasons for this, but a significant one is that some experience with what is difficult in the practice of a discipline can make one a better teacher of the discipline; it by helps one anticipate the challenges ahead. I had a logic teacher in college who never had any trouble learning how to use the symbols or follow the proofs. He was a great teacher for those who also had no trouble with these basic tools of logic. But he couldn't grasp what was going wrong with those of us who didn't just pick up the symbols easily; so he couldn't help us. In graduate school, I retook logic (after having done so poorly the first time); I had a teacher who described himself as having had a terrible time learning logic at first; because of this, he had developed a fine sense of where the rough parts are, and lots of tools for helping oneself through them. This time around, I got it so well that that teacher asked me to be his assistant the following year. It is similar in counseling, although the challenges we face in counseling are much thornier and more slippery.

Services I Provide

• Individual Therapy & Counseling
• Marriage, Couples, or Relationship Counseling
• Coaching
• Consultation
• Online Counseling / Phone Therapy
• Other

Ages I Work With

• Adults
• Elders

Languages I Speak

• English

Therapy Approaches I Use

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
• Anger Management
• Feminist Therapy
• Journal Therapy
• Logotherapy
• Mindfulness Based Approaches
• Non-Violent Communication
• Other - Not Listed Here
• Self Acceptance Training

Concerns & Issues I Help With

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