Alex Ellis, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Hi, welcome! When meeting a new person in therapy, I like to provide an environment that is open and accepting and approach people with a humanistic, whole person perspective. We all have problems but taking the viewpoint that people are defined by their problems does not appeal to me. For example, seeing someone as a whole, multifaceted person who happens to be in a situation of homelessness feels very different from saying "that is a homeless woman". I have found that many of us learned to be unkind to ourselves in our heads and often speak to ourselves very critically and without patience and gentleness. The longest relationship we will ever have is with ourselves and I have found that how we treat ourselves makes a great deal of difference to our sense of well-being and happiness. When we have problems that feel insurmountable, we can work on breaking issues down in a way that helps us cope and makes them manageable. We can then begin to take steps that may be small but are still progress in the direction we desire and which will result in getting us to where we want to be in our future.

I want to help people feel better. When anxiety and depression are managed and reduced by practicing self-care, our enjoyment of life increases. We can spend more time smiling and laughing and doing the things which bring us meaning and fulfillment. I want to help you enjoy the everyday moments, and not wait until something happens in the future that may or may not bring happiness. I want to help you enjoy your life in the present.