My Approach to Helping

As an experienced therapist, I integrate several approaches to best meet your particular needs. I am described by patients as relaxed but serious, open, and able to make it easier to talk about the difficult details. People who have had unsatisfying experiences in therapy before have commented that I've made it much more comfortable and collaborative.

I'll join you in working on both solving the problems of daily life, finding room for comfort and and creativity, and, if you wish, exploring dreams and the bigger patterns of your personality. I'll help make therapy a different and positive kind of relationship, in which you can focus on things you need to express to someone other than friends and family. "Positive Psychology" is an important element of a great deal of the work I do with people. a term for an approach to the psyche and therapy which emphasizes building on strengths, potentials, and development, rather than seeking and "curing" illnesses.

Mental illness exists, of course, and it is a source of great pain for so many. But psychotherapy doesn't need to be packaged as a kind of old-fashioned medical treatment in order to seem more legitimate. Yes, a competent therapist can help you heal from any of a number of actual psychological disorders. But self-discovery, making one's life fit one's goals, fantasies, and values, maximizing our capacity for fulfilling relationships, work, and creativity, becoming more comfortable in your own skin, stronger and more flexible rather than just minimizing or fixing so-called "weaknesses" or "issues" - these are good things. You don't have to identify as sick or disabled in order to benefit from this unique work we do.

I offer psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, mindfulness and humanistic approaches to help individuals and couples of all ages who are seeking help and change. I am experienced with relationship conflict, self-image, transition, destructive habits and thinking, developing confidence and creativity, coping with trauma, chronic pain and illness, and all forms of depression and anxiety...as well as helping you reach what your nature is urging you to seek.

More Info About My Practice

My fees are reasonable. Your fee may be determined on a sliding scale, based on both your income and your current financial obstacles. I accept credit cards, and I am happy to complete insurance forms for your reimbursement. I offer a brief consultation by phone without charge so that you can feel comfortable with your decision to make a first appointment.

What I Love about Being a Psychotherapist

Many of us live lives that are all about pursuing material and prestige goals, and immediate pleasures. There is little room in our lives for reflection, for looking at the little details and the bigger picture, for seriously and respectfully listening and speaking - unless we create that space and that time. There are always areas of ourselves that don't receive enough attention, and parts of our relationships and our work that just, inevitably, get stuck. I have come to learn that my greatest pleasure in my work is one of my greatest pleasures as a person, as a husband, father, and friend - to improve relationships and help individuals feel better about themselves while handling the truth about their lives with greater clarity, honesty, and courage. To live better. It is a good goal.

On the Fence About Going to Therapy?

Let's just talk. Whatever stereotypes you've experienced about psychotherapy, analysis, counseling, etc, it really just comes down to two people having a focused, private dialogue, and figuring out the best way to move toward the life you want. As long as there is respect and curiosity, something new will be learned and achieved. And in no other relationship in life can you feel quite so free to say whatever needs to be said, without fearing that honesty and openness to difficult things will damage your life or reputation. No school ever offered a class all about you and your life. This is what therapy is about.