My Approach to Helping

My approach to helping entails providing a safe, non-judging, and accepting environment that allows others to explore their experiences, increase awareness, gain insight, and remove some of the obstacles that stand in the way of living a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

I offer an opportunity to make better sense of what's going on and reduce stress related to relationships, life events, and traumatic experiences, as well as feelings of anxiety and depression. I view therapy as a collaborative process and our relationship as central to its success.

To my practice, I bring curiosity, openness and sometimes humor. I rely on psychology science, where the clinical interventions that are used depend on your needs, what research is telling us about the best way to help you, your preferences, and my skill-set.

My View on the Purpose of Psychotherapy

With the general goal in mind of helping people live a more healthy, fulfilling and meaningful life, I meet everyone "where they are at". People go to therapy for many different reasons, and have varying goals and expectations. For example, while some seek to reduce negative symptoms of anxiety or depression, others might need help to make a difficult decision, change a behavior or process a loss. Many do not really know what they are looking for or what they might need, but feel that they can use some support and have someone to talk to.

In a collaborative process, I help make better sense of your experiences, clarify needs and goals, and plan the best course of therapy for you.

What I Say to People Concerned about the Therapy Process

Although therapy can be a wonderful opportunity for personal growth and change, initiating and undergoing therapy can seem overwhelming and stressful. And indeed successful and meaningful therapy often entails experiencing thoughts and feelings that might be difficult or new. Creating a change, even a desired one, often requires hard work. Sometimes, in the process of therapy, things even feel worse before they feel better.

A therapeutic relationship that is kind, sensitive and collaborative, and which follows the individual's leads and pace, will allow one to go through these experiences in a rewarding manner.