Psychotherapy Services

Individual Psychotherapy

The aim of psychotherapy is to help you to:

  • Know yourself
  • Improve every-day living
  • Not only to feel better but to get better
  • Identify and understand the nature of your challenges
  • Replace unhealthy coping strategies with self-enhancing ones
  • Become more satisfied, have higher self-esteem, and feel a sense of well-being

Tailoring treatment to fit your lifestyle and values, I primarily offer insight-oriented psychotherapy, which includes looking at your unconscious motivations. Simply stated, we look at the deeper reasons for why you do what you do. Since it has taken years to find yourself where you are, it will most likely take time for long-lasting change. Some clients stay in therapy for a few months, and others continue for several years. The average length of time for my clients is one to two years. Although it may seem like a long time, when you look at it in terms of numbers of hours, one year of weekly therapy sessions is about 45 to 50 hours, or a typical workweek.

I do my utmost to provide a safe, confidential, and professional environment. I work with adults who are experience several kinds of challenges, including:

  • Depression
  • Trauma
  • The loss of a loved one
  • Anxiety and panic attacks
  • Problems with relationships and intimacy
  • Low self-esteem
  • Dissatisfaction with a job or career
  • Substance abuse and addictions
  • Mood swings
  • Trouble adjusting to a new relationship or other life circumstances

Couples Counseling

Every couple starts out with high expectations. Along the way, things happen – some universal and others unique to you – that create emotional distance, hurt, and anger. I've found that trouble with communication is involved in nearly every relationship problem. However, deeper issues often appear alongside the apparent ones, which we would also explore. Once the challenges that brought you into counseling are on their way to being resolved, you may benefit from additional couples counseling sessions until new ways of relating to each other are firmly established.

Couples counseling can be very helpful when you and your partner are locked in stalemates and frustrating patterns, can't seem to get through to one another, or are going through major changes or adjustments. You can learn about the dynamics that led to present circumstances so that each person becomes more cooperative, loving, and sensitive to each other’s needs.

A major challenge for most couples is communicating in a way that is loving, respectful, and productive. All couples have conflict, and unfortunately the way you communicate with each other can contribute to your ongoing difficulties. By simply being a third party, a psychotherapist can interrupt long-standing patterns. However, I also try to help you quickly get to the core issues that are impacting intimacy and affecting your communication. In couples counseling, you may learn how to:

  • Communicate more effectively
  • Resolve conflicts
  • Value the relationship and each other
  • Restore intimacy
  • Deal with issues related to sex

Differences among mental health professionals

There are several differences between Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT's), Psychologists, Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW's), and Psychiatrists. All types of mental health professionals provide psychotherapy.

The focus of my education and training, as for most MFT's, is on providing psychotherapy. During graduate training, I was observed and videotaped for hundreds of hours for the purpose of becoming a skilled practitioner in individual psychotherapy, couples counseling, and family therapy. MFT's such as myself take a humanistic, developmental approach to providing psychotherapy, with a focus on personal growth and relationships.

Clinical psychologists are also trained in providing psychotherapy, with an emphasis on assessment and testing. Some clinical psychologists use the medical model for providing psychotherapy, in which case clients are diagnosed and treated for a mental condition. Other psychologists take a developmental approach.

LCSW's also provide psychotherapy, and their training emphasizes a more global (community) focus. They may be aware of community resources that other providers may not be.

While some psychiatrists still provide psychotherapy, the profession has evolved into focusing on prescribing psychotropic (psychiatric) medications and understanding their effects. If you're seeing a psychiatrist or other medical professional, I like to take a "team approach" and may ask you if it's OK to speak with them. The choice of whether to do this - as well as to see a psychiatrist for a medical evaluation in the first place - is yours.

For further information

For more information on the following mental health professions, click on the links that follow.