About My Practice

I incorporate a variety of creative counseling approaches in my practice, including family systems, cognitive and behavioral therapy, self psychology, Gestalt techniques, play therapy, meditation, imagery, visualization, hypnosis, nutrition and exercise counseling, health education, mindfulness, and psychopharmacology. I provide therapy for children, adolescents, and adults, by providing individual, couple, family, and group sessions.

Individual therapy frequently focuses on working to eliminate the effect of early trauma and loss that can interfere with the healing process in the broadest sense.

Family Therapy is based on the premise that no life-challenging condition exists that is not a family illness. Family involvement is extremely important from many perspectives. Family members may be even more anxious than the patient about the outcome of the issue, illness or disease, and may have a deeper sense of helplessness than the person going through it. Family members often hesitate to articulate these feelings to the patient. Family sessions allow members to express and work through fears, depression, feelings of hopelessness, and concerns about loved ones. To accomplish these goals, I often incorporate genograms, family sculpture, Gestalt, as well as interactional therapies.

Couples Therapy explores commitment, individual and separate functioning, trust, individuation, intimacy, tolerance for ambiguity, capacity for self-observation, self-experience, and insight in the relationship.

Psychopharmacology refers to the use of medication to treat symptomatology.

Stress Management employs the principle that stress is how we perceive a situation rather than how it actually exists. A disturbing event can be imaged in a manner less stimulating to the sympathetic nervous system. Concepts of stress inoculation and systematic desensitization can be combined with strategies to elicit a parasympathetic effect, so that when graded images of future or present stressors are introduced the individual can learn to imagine being successful at handling the situation.

Meditation trains the capacities of self-observation and the ability to let go of anxieties, fears, obsessions, and negative thoughts.

Imagery is important in many ways. We image constantly, but our most common images are negative, and usually produce behavior and lifestyles of the same nature. The mission is not to teach imagery but to change and transform existing images into ones that will form the basis for hope and health. Closely related are visualization and hypnosis.

Laughter and noncompetitive play promote muscle relaxation as profoundly as relaxation training. Laughter produces beta-endorphins which increase pain thresh holds and enhance lymphocyte proliferation, reduce depression and anxiety, and increase feelings of well-being. The goal of all laughter and play therapy is to be able to see the humor in a situation, allowing a person to have more options and a better perspective for managing problems.

Expressive therapies include (but are not limited to) music/sound, movement, drama, poetry, mask-making, journaling, photography, bibliotherapy, drawing, and painting. Many exercises are designed to elicit and reinforce images of effective functioning, while others are designed to reveal obstacles to emotional and physical healing.

Therapeutic touch is based on the assumption of Eastern medicine that illness or pain are sometimes caused by blockages in the body's energy field. When one intentionally manipulates the energy field, these blocks are dissipated.

Mindfulness is enhanced attention to and awareness of current experience or present reality. It is awareness of what's going on internally and externally.