My Therapeutic Approach
Your successful therapy begins with finding the right psychotherapist for you. There are two parts to discovering if you have found the right therapist; one is about how comfortable you feel with that person and the other is about whether you believe you will be helped by their approach to therapy. They are both equally important for you to receive what you need to heal and to grow. There are many types of therapy and every therapist is unique, and reading profiles like this here will only give you a limited sense of what it feels like to walk into the office, sit on the couch, and start opening up about your life, your stuck points, and your hopes. The truth is that you need to feel trust and safety in order to talk about things that are vulnerable and often difficult to communicate. And the only way to know if that kind of empathic connection and trusting rapport is present is to meet in person. That said, let me tell you a little about how we would work, to see if it sounds like what you are looking for.

In over more than ten years of being a marriage and family therapist, I have developed a personal eclectic approach, meaning I help you by drawing on useful ideas from many theories, but my approach mainly comes from: Attachment Theory; IFS or Internal Family Systems; EFT or Emotionally Focused Therapy; and Narrative Therapy. What does all this mean? In short, it means that what we learned from caregivers growing up has a direct impact on how we see ourselves and on what we want from relationships. It means that we are all doing our best trying to make good things happen…even if it doesn’t always look like that from the outside(!) It also means we have different reactions at different times or in different contexts, and that our reactivity often is at the root of patterns of conflict. Finally, it means that finding hope and empathy, both for ourselves and our partners, is always possible.

The therapeutic relationship is a truly collaborative effort; we will work together to identify what you see as the problem and what you want to see change or improve. From week to week, I will help you recognize and gradually change patterns that are painful or unsatisfying. And while feeling better is clearly the goal, the actual course can become genuinely challenging, sometimes surprisingly so. Therapists like to talk about all the good things that will come from therapy (and, yes, they do come and they can be amazing!), but they require a serious commitment to being open about experiences and feelings that are often those things we struggle with the most. I would consider it an honor to be able to provide you with the safe, supportive environment you need to create this growth. A strong therapeutic relationship can absolutely make you feel better about yourself, your life, and your relationships. I have helped it happen, and it is what I love most about being a psychotherapist. But to come back to the beginning, the right therapist for you is one you trust and believe can hear you and help you. I encourage you to take the next step and talk to me.

Couples Therapy
If you are seeking couples therapy, I would like to add some further thoughts. I believe that, from birth, the quality of your attachments has a deep influence on how you feel about yourself and on how you form your own attachments later. I also believe that people are born good, and never stop trying to make their relationships work better for them. This means I believe that you are good. This also means I believe your partner is good. And everyone in your family is good. Sometimes, however, behavior doesn’t look or feel good. Real pain can be inflicted. Relationships can be deeply complex. Each person is shaped by their own unique history, and when you enter relationship, your history meets the unique history of your partner. This means we all have developed different ways of perceiving things, as well as different ways of communicating. What you feel love is “supposed” to look like will be different from your partner, and trying to understand and negotiate what each of you feels is the “right” amount of connection or intimacy can be the underlying source of many painful relationship dynamics. Differing views like this, about core issues, can cause confusion, conflict, and isolation. But healing and change are possible. Therapy can help untangle communication, address everyone’s needs, and create hope where there appeared to be none left. And it can produce these positive results in a safe space that moves beyond conflict and reactivity to get everyone relating in a healthy, positive, caring way. In short, my approach to couples therapy is to get everyone back in touch with each other’s inherent goodness. Engaging each other with empathy can bring such profound healing!

Group Therapy
I am also interested in facilitating therapeutic “growth” groups, and am looking for people who would like to join. I have led and participated in various groups during my eight years of being a therapist and find them to be a fantastic addition to—or even alternative to—individual therapy. There is a great deal of support and caring that can be found within a group. There is also a great deal of learning and growing inside the group that you can apply to new and newly enriched relationships in the “outside” world. If you have never experienced group psychotherapy, but have always been curious about what it means and what it could do for you, give me a call or send me a message. I love sharing about the positive power of group.

Experience
I have more than a decade of experience as an LMFT.  My work has been varied, including: families confronting death and dying as well as major life transitions; young adult survivors of abuse in both individual and peer group therapy; acute trauma and resolving ongoing effects of latent trauma; anxiety and depression across lifespan from grade schoolers to retirees; expelled teens needing motivation; positive action classes for groups of middle school students; individual therapy and process groups for at-risk high school students; couples struggling with conflict, compulsive behaviors and intimacy issues; and parenthood, across all phases of development.

Fees
The cost of a standard fifty minute session is $140.

The cost of a ninety minute group psychotherapy session is $50.

I do not accept insurance at this time. Payment is by cash or check and is due at the time of service.