COVID-19 SAFETY NOTE: If you are staying home, like many people, the work of counseling can go on through online counseling sessions. These are easy to set up and use a confidential browser connection. When you need help, it is important to feel that you can connect with someone. Anxiety, Depression, and Trauma so often cause us to lose that connection, and we end up feeling isolated and alone. Online counseling gives you that connection, and can be the first crucial step in overcoming that feeling of being alone. You can get the help that you need, and remain safe.

You may be like many people who have reached the point where going it alone doesn’t work anymore. You are hurting, and the time has come to talk to someone.

But how do you decide on a counselor? A ground-breaking research study says that a therapist's particular therapeutic approach is NOT the most important thing when it came to getting the help you are looking for.

So what is the most important? According to the research, you are the most important thing. The research says that your particular characteristics, your resilience, determination, courage, and insight, make more of a difference in successful counseling than anything else.

So what does that mean about choosing a counselor? Well, the same research says that the second most important factor is the quality of the working relationship you have with your counselor. It is very likely that nearly any therapist in this listing is competent, experienced, and would work hard to help you. But research and experience say that it is not just a counselor's training, therapeutic approach, or experience. It is something about how you and that person are able to relate to each other. It is a subtle but unmistakable feeling. The sense that this person "speaks your language," that you can really work with this person. It is the sense that you can connect with someone, open up to them, and trust the process.

But without actually meeting that person, how do you know if he or she might be someone you can really work with? Trust your intuition. See what you can find out about that person. Go to their website and spend some time there. Some counselors offer introductory meetings at no, or reduced cost. Take advantage of this when it is available.

I help those struggling with anxiety, trauma, and depression find renewed strength, peace, and purpose. I have done my best to make my website an accurate and authentic reflection of who I am as a counselor and as a person. I invite you to take a look.