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

My Approach to Helping

I have always been moved by what brings people closer together, by what reconciles hurt and conflict, and by the common sorrows and difficulties that we all share. I think of myself as a quiet laborer, working along with the people who trust me with their most personal experience. I have practiced psychotherapy for thirty years, but have been involved with these concerns since my middle adolescence. It has become a second nature to offer my help in ways I hope will be meaningful for you whether you come for help as a couple or as an individual.

It has been a deep privilege to know the couples with whom I have worked. When a couple goes to therapy, each partner brings everything that is most important to them as they risk to show more of themselves and to reach to their partner. To be a helper and a witness in this process has been profoundly moving for me and enriched my life. When you come to couple therapy with me, I work to help you find ways to share the more vulnerable experiences and feelings that strengthen your bond and bring you closer; helping you step back from patterns in which you get stuck, and deepening your connection to each other. My commitment as a couple therapist is to bring everything I have learned and everything of myself to help you find your best selves in and through your relationship to each other.

In individual therapy the relationship we develop becomes a context in which you can think and feel about your relationship to yourself and to others. I think with you about your experience from a psychodynamic perspective. This means that I, along with many other therapists, have learned that it is helpful for individuals to understand their history and how it influences current thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But I have been an experientially oriented therapist for all of my thirty years of practice. This means that I help you stay close to your emotional experience, doing whatever is practical to help you find your best and deepest self. I see psychotherapy as an enormously valuable gift, not only in healing painful experience, but also in creating a meaningful life. I bring a practice life of commitment, creativity, genuine engagement, and also the flaws of my own humanity.

 

More Info About My Practice

I have vigorously pursued professional training and consultation through all the years of my practice. I seek to constantly improve and challenge myself so that I might better help the individuals and couples with whom I work.

The couples and individuals with whom I work experience me as extremely committed to them, empathic, and practical. I hope you'll leave the first session with something of value, but I only charge for that session if you decide to return. Please take some time to review my website to learn more about my practice and to help you prepare for therapy. Convenient offices: Westlake Village & Encino.

Services I Provide

• Individual Therapy & Counseling
• Marriage, Couples, or Relationship Counseling
• Group Therapy
• Mediation
• Consultation
• Clinical Supervision

Ages I Work With

• Teens
• Adults
• Elders

Languages I Speak

• English

Therapy Approaches I Use

• Body-Mind Psychotherapy
• Breathwork
• Collaborative Therapy / Collaborative Language Systems
• Contemplative Psychotherapy
• Core Process Psychotherapy
• Dance / Movement Therapy
• Depth Therapy
• Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
• Existential Psychotherapy
• Family Attachment Narrative Therapy
• Focusing
• Gestalt Therapy
• Guided Therapeutic Imagery
• Integration of different therapy models
• Interpersonal Neurobiology
• Interpersonal Psychotherapy
• Narrative Therapy
• Object Relations
• Psychoanalysis / Modern Psychoanalysis
• Psychodrama
• Redecision therapy
• Relational Psychotherapy
• Somatic Experiencing
• Somatic Psychotherapy

Concerns & Issues I Help With

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