My Approach to Helping
My approach is eclectic because each person is an integrated whole. You are a unique person. You function as a feeling being, a thinking being, a spiritual being, and you engage in behaviors. These, though, are analytical distinctions only. You are a fully integrated being so any place we enter the system and cause change, that change spreads to every other aspect of your being. I therefore endeavor to meet you (and every patient) where you are. I work in whatever ways you want to work as you become educated to the possibilities. You are autonomous and have the right to go where you want and live how you wish to live your life. My role is to be your ally. I will listen carefully to you and extend to you unconditional positive regard. I therefore borrow from many different therapeutic approaches to offer you what I have found are the best from those things that work.
My View on the Purpose of Psychotherapy
Life has taught me that there is no virtue in refusing help that is available. As a psychotherapist, I offer a very special relationship, maybe the only such relationship you will ever experience in your life. My sole focus is you. I am there to be your resource and your ally. I am there to care about your personal growth and well-being.
My Therapy Focus
My focus is to help you accomplish the change that you seek as fully, effectively, and quickly as possible. My feeling is that therapeutic sessions should last only as long as the problem and the progress dictate, but, the therapeutic relationship is on-going. My patients are encouraged to return at any time to work on whatever issue may arise for which they can use emotional support, coaching, or any other benefit I can provide as a counselor.
My Guiding Ethical Principles
My first obligation as a therapist is to do no harm. In meeting that obligation I make sure I am trained and knowledgeable in any interventions that I offer. You have the right to consent or not consent to any type of treatment after having a full opportunity to be informed. You have the right to confidentiality limited only by the exceptions mandated by law. You have the right to your own values and beliefs. I do not impose my beliefs or values on my patients. My job is to try in all things to bring out in you what is most authentic to who you are and who you choose to be.