Psychotherapy

I conduct individual psychotherapy with adults to address an array of issues.  Through training and work in diverse settings I have gained experience with a broad range of clients and issues. 

Issues

Some of the issues that I commonly help clients with in therapy are:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • LGBT issues
  • Men's issues
  • Traumatic life events including grief and divorce
  • Relationship difficulties with partners, parents or friends
  • Work or school difficulties including underachievement, attention, or personal conflicts
  • Difficulties with focus, attention, or decision making
  • Negative thinking
  • Self-esteem
  • Handling challenging emotions
  • Sleep problems
  • Improving life satisfaction

My Approach

I practice psychodynamic therapy and I readily integrate cognitive behavioral techniques when they are clinically useful.  In addition, I completed intensive training in dialectical behavior therapy conducted by Marsha Linehan's Behavioral Tech LLC, which allows me to incorporate mindfulness and skills-based techniques when helpful.

I strive to be flexible and find approaches that work for each client.  Often I will start by reviewing the various ways that a new client is coping with what troubles them, with the goal of reinforcing and building upon coping methods that are already working.  We may focus on behaviors that impact mental health, such as sleep, exercise, engagement in productive activity, entertainment, distraction, and thoughtful exposure to personally challenging situations.  Cognitive behavioral interventions such as exploring troubling thoughts that accompany unpleasant feelings and evaluating the validity of these thoughts may prove useful as well.

Often evidence arises in therapy of underlying factors that contribute to clients' distress.  Examples of these factors are family and relationship history, patterns of belief about oneself and the world, and experiences of marginalization or discrimination.  Frequently it is fruitful to explore these and other issues in a more open-ended way.  This psychodynamic therapeutic work takes place in the context of a warm, healing relationship between the client and me that is both supportive and, at times, challenging.

Starting therapy can be daunting, so I work hard to provide a safe, comfortable environment for my clients. My approach is interactive: I provide active listening and support as well as honest feedback and encouragement to tackle the important issues.  I achieve good results with a wide range of clients by flexibly interweaving techniques from multiple theoretical schools of thought.

Find out more about my TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE, read ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS, or CONTACT ME.