Areas of Focus

Anxiety disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Postpartum Mood Disorders
Unresolved trauma
Life transitions
Grief and loss
Cultural issues and concerns
Eating Disorders, self-esteem and body image
Couples counseling and family therapy
Challenges facing adults raised by parents with mental health issues and/or addiction (ACOA)

Individual Therapy

In my practice I see individuals of all ages and for many different reasons. People often seek therapy because they are hoping to improve some part of their life at home, at work, or within their relationships. Other times a life transition such as marriage, the birth of a child, loss of a job or grief around the death of a loved one prompts a person to find support through counseling. Regardless of the reason that brings you to therapy, you are likely seeking services because you want to feel better in some way. With this goal mind, the initial focus of our work will often be on decreasing and managing the distressing emotions that bring you to treatment.  In brief therapy, I typically work with clients for five to ten sessions. For many issues, this is enough time for clients to experience improvement in the area for which they sought treatment. For other clients, they wish to continue our work together to help them make more long-standing changes around particularly complex issues. Regardless of whether our work together is brief or longer-term, we will evaluate your progress and refine your goals throughout the therapy process to help you achieve the outcome you are looking for.

Couples Therapy

I provide counseling for couples experiencing difficulties in their relationships for multiple reasons. Whether your challenges are due to a breakdown in communication, different life-goals, or the transitions that accompany marriage, moving in together, or starting a family –couples counseling can provide you with the needed perspective to help you better understand and communicate with one another.

Even in the most intimate and positive of relationships, there are times when individuals within a partnership fall into patterns of behavior and react to one another in ways that are less than helpful. When left unmanaged, these patterns can cause a couple to feel distance and tension in their relationship. This tension can present itself in many forms- including arguments, power struggles, insecurities, resentments, infidelity, feeling powerless, and issues with sexual and/or emotional intimacy. It is my goal to help couples identify the patterns that are fueling their difficulties and help them interact in ways that promote healthy communication and understanding. In order to do this I will actively provide you with feedback about what I observe during our sessions, assist you in developing new skills to better understand and communicate with your partner, and encourage you to use these skills to create new patterns of relating to one another. By engaging in this process you will learn to interact more effectively, providing the foundation for meaningful change and increased intimacy.  

Family Therapy

Between managing day-to-day issues (work stress, finances, schoolwork, kid’s extracurricular activities), the frustrations that can accompany being a child or adolescent and the responsibilities of being a parent or step parent- it’s easy to see why family interactions aren’t always as smooth and peaceful as we’d like them to be. Families typically function best when both the needs of individual members and the family as a whole are being met. My role is first to guide you in identifying what these needs are, and then help each family member to actively meet these needs so that everyone feels heard and important.

Similar to couples therapy, in family therapy I work to help family members identify their patterns of acting and reacting to one another that have become problematic. As an advocate for your entire family, my goal is to ensure that each member has a voice and feels the safety necessary to openly express his or her thoughts and feelings. With this in mind, I will help each member identify the challenges of the family (as seen through the unique perspective of each individual), determine what each person’s role is, as well as how they would like to see the family change. With every member’s input, this information will help us to define the goals of our work together. Although each family deals with complex issues and challenges, by investing in each other and working together you can become closer and relate to one another in more effective and fulfilling ways.

Generally, family therapy involves the entire family. Initially I meet with parents to obtain information about their family’s history, strengths, challenges and goals. I then meet with the remaining family members separately, to hear their perspectives and determine what they would like to accomplish through our work together. From this point forward, I typically meet with the family as a whole, unless I believe that another course of action would likely prove more beneficial in resolving the issues you seek to address.