The services I provide include
Individual Psychotherapy and Counseling
Individual psychotherapy, as I see it, is an effort of two people working together to help one of them change something in his or her life. That something might be depression or a relationship problem, a result of previous harmful experiences, or any of a number of obstacles hindering satisfaction and happiness.
The helping process, however, is similar with each person. I listen to you and try my best to understand you—to see things from your viewpoint and to comprehend your feelings. In doing this, I offer the respect and support I would want from someone if I needed help.
Once we achieve mutual understanding and trust, we work together, enabling you in a way you want to be enabled, to overcome the impediment that is negatively impacting your life. The process is a collaborative one: we work together, using methods chosen together, to move you in the direction you want to go.
I don’t practice one single kind of therapy. I believe different people require different kinds of help, so I try to offer each person the type of therapy best suited to their individual needs.
Child and Adolescent Therapy
In my 45+ years of working with children and adolescents, I’ve found that a team approach works best. That is, everyone involved with the young person—the parents, sometimes other family members, often school officials, and the child/teenager, of course—plays an integral role in achieving a successful outcome.
When families come for help, they’re usually stuck in a stale-mate: there’s a conflict between members, and each one is so upset and defensive about it they can’t talk effectively and work out differences. If they talk at all, it’s usually to argue and disagree.
I try to understand the feelings and perspectives of each person and how this affects other family members. I then try to help each one find a more effective way to communicate, one that impacts others positively. This opens up family interactions so that conflicts previously unable to be discussed can now be talked about and resolved.
Couples Therapy
Couples usually come for therapy when there’s a crisis in their relationship: they are thinking of separating; someone has had an affair; someone is threatening to end the marriage. Effective communication has stopped long ago, contributing to the crisis.
I assist both partners in learning to talk with each other in ways that enable them to express their needs and feelings, to be heard and understood, perhaps for the first time. I help them use their new skills to share hurts, hopes and gripes about their relationship, empowering them to resolve the differences that led to the crisis. Couples can weather surprisingly rough storms if they learn to talk and share with each other effectively.