How does one select the right psychotherapist?
There are many competent and gifted professionals out there, so, why work with me?
I have a few ideas ...
Firstly, I feel comfortable and have experience in working with people who grapple with the following challenges:
- Anxiety and/or Depression
- Healing from Trauma (survivors of past physical/sexual/emotional/verbal abuse or assault, survivors of
- Developing and/or sustaining sobriety from substance abuse
- Gambling, internet, sex or other behavioral compulsion issues
- Grief and Loss (recent or remote)
- Issues pertinent to those who identify as LGBTQAI+
- Issues related to questioning or understanding your sexuality or "coming out"/sexual orientation concerns
- Gender identity questions or gender transition support and resources
- Challenges related to the intersectionality of various identities in finding community and connection, and how oppression (i.e., racism/classism/sexism/homophobia/transphobia) impacts one's well-being and health
- Coping with and managing chronic illness, such as HIV
- Developing assertiveness, effective communication, and increased conflict resolution in your relationships
- Improving the overall quality of interpersonal relationships
- Managing life stage transitions (starting college, moving, health changes, career changes,
Secondly, once we determine your therapeutic goals together, many of my therapeutic interventions are drawn from training and supervised experience in the following psychotherapy models:
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy - [Completed Level 1 IFS Training through the IFS Institute (09/2018)]
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Couples Therapy (for opposite-gender, same-gender, or transgender/queer couples)
Finally, my psychotherapy style and experience is diverse, client-centered, and transparent. My clients have spanned the range of ethnic/cultural/racial/socioeconomic/religious/spiritual backgrounds, the spectrum of sexual identities, and the spectrum of gender identities with a variety of concerns and issues. Over the years, clients have told me that my style is dynamic and interactive, yet easy-going and contemplative, depending on the needs of the moment. They've accused me of using lots of metaphors (some better than others) to make concepts digestible, and being creative (even though, admittedly, I never received above a "B" in art classes in school). And, yes, I've even been told that I can be humorous (although not clever enough to be doing a stand-up comedy routine anytime soon).
You are a valued and equal partner. The importance that I place in your ongoing constructive criticism and feedback during our therapy process (negative or positive), underscores my philosophy that good psychotherapy is an equal partnership -- you and me. The practice of psychotherapy does not need to be some mysterious experience. I will regularly offer the reasoning behind my line of thinking, when taking a certain direction in our therapy sessions, and invite your feelings and reactions.
You are not a widget. People are complex creatures, and I don't believe in a "one size fits all" approach to any given issue. Thus, your participation in determining or revising our therapeutic angle is essential to a personalized and effective psychotherapy experience with me.
You carry innate strengths that will help. People have their own internal abilities to heal themselves (they sometimes just get forgotten in times of distress), and we'll uncover them to help your healing both within and outside of our therapy hour. You also bring your unique experience, resilience, talents/skills, and resources (social, intellectual, creative, spiritual/religious, etc.) to the therapy session, while I bring my experience, and a wide variety of concepts/frameworks/theory and practice on helping people heal.
So, between the two of us (or three of us, if you are a couple seeking care), our goal is to find the right fusion of your needs and resources and my different types of experience to get your healing started. I invite you to give me a call, see how I sound outside of words on a website, and let's see how we might start this work together.