My Approach to Helping
Helping others has been my passion for over twenty five years, ever since I graduated from Columbia University as a trained psychotherapist. My specialties include cognitive behavioral psychotherapy for persons coping with anxiety, depression, stress, relationship and work-related issues, and compulsive overeating. My book, “Let Go Of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food: A Five Point Plan for Success”(Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) helps readers learn pleasurable, practical healthy habits to manage stress better and enjoy food and life more!
If you're looking for strength-oriented, solution-oriented therapy and someone who will focus on your needs and goals, I may be the right person to work with you. I love working with individuals, couples, and families who are working to feel better about each other and themselves and to develop better communication and relationships. My work often includes assertiveness training for people who have trouble saying "No" and whose lives are less enjoyable as a result. In addition, I work with individuals who are coping with compulsive overeating and are seeking mindfulness techniques to enjoy food more, yet eat only when hungry. As a former compulsive overeater, it's especially gratifying to me to help others learn and practice pleasurable ways to eliminate emotional eating and achieve life-long weight control. If you have any questions about these services or other aspects of my practice please feel free to call me. All my best wishes to you in finding a therapist and moving forward with your life in a positive way!
More Info About My Practice
My hourly fees for a private session are $100, but I also am on a number of insurance plans including Aetna, Cigna, United HealthCare and Value Options.
Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With
Some of the issues I'm skilled at helping with are anxiety, depression, stress, obsessions, marital issues, relationships, compulsive overeating, work-related issues, grief, cancer and other illness-related issues, communicationsassertiveness issues and others. I've also worked successfully with clients coping with are caretaker issues, aging, parenting issues, sibling-related matters, and other family and life-stage related subjects.
How Psychotherapy Can Help
Psychotherapy can help us to better understand ourselves - how we became who we are today as well as the thoughts and feelings that help us to move forward or hold us back. This knowledge, gained through an effective, active relationship with the therapist, heightens our compassion for ourselves and others and helps us to move forward with our lives in a more positive way.
With couples, each partner in the marriage is encouraged to share how they experience the marriage and what improvements they would like to see. No one is considered "wrong" or "right" or to blame; rather we work to help each of the spouses share their thoughts and feelings and, at the end of each session, come up with a personal action plan for working to make the marriage better. We look briefly at each partners family of origin to help both better understand how their beginnings helped them to become who they are, while we look at ways in which they can move forward. The work is usually relatively short-term, with the goal of helping couples to communicate effectively and problem-solve on their own.
With clients dealing with compulsive overeating, I help them to understand the reasons they're eating excessively - which usually has to do with a futile attempt to manage stress. CBT, stress management techniques and mindful eating are used to help them learn to enjoy their food without overeating and develop additional healthier habits.
Clinicians who offer sliding scale payment structures may offer lower or reduced fees based on an individual's ability to pay. Please contact this clinician for more details regarding their fees or sliding scale policy.