I have 15 years of experience as a psychotherapist working with individuals and couples from adolescence on up. I feel privileged for the opportunity to work with people to assist them in attaining their preferred lives. I can help you untangle depression and anxiety from running your life, or resolve conflict in relationships with important people in your world, or support you to stand up to being marginalized, or all of the above. Change is always possible and none of us can always do it alone. In addition, we all deserve to have joy in our lives on a regular basis.

In my first career, I was a high school drama teacher. I also started acting at a young age and always loved it. Playing a character requires that you step into the shoes of another person, the character you are portraying, and come to understand the choices they have made in their story. An actor needs to care about the character he/she is playing, because otherwise how can he/she embrace the character and take his/her from words on a page to become a full-fledged three dimensional human being? This training in theatre applies to being a therapist. There are always reasons we make the choices we do, and as we grow, we realize some of those choices don’t serve us anymore, and it’s great to have someone you can trust to talk to and figure out how to make room to do things differently.

When I was a teenager, I was a foreign exchange student. My year abroad taught be a great deal about the role that culture plays in shaping our lives and beliefs. Sometimes in therapy you get to examine long held beliefs that you never really realized you could do away with; beliefs that get in your way. That kind of conversation with a therapist can again open opportunities to make different choices for yourself. Those long held beliefs may have been keeping you from attaining some of your goals.

I work with my clients as equals. While I have the training and skills to be helpful, you are an expert on yourself, and will teach me about you so we can put our heads together to figure out the best ways to accomplish what you are hoping to get out of working together.

Finally, while therapy is fairly serious business, because not experiencing enough joy in life can be very disheartening, there are sometimes opportunities to bring humor into struggles in life. I say this in case you are looking to work with a therapist who can also laugh at the absurdity in life. Of course this is just an option. No humor is required. You might find, however, that there is some unexpected enjoyment in working with someone who has your back and cares a great deal about you.

Phone Availability: I can provide up to an hour of phone conversation a week, in whatever segments you choose throughout the week that add up to 60 minutes.