As I see it, in our therapy sessions, we’re just human beings working together to make your life better. You’re the expert on your life and my first responsibility is to listen to you and understand where you’re coming from. I may have thirty plus years of experience and education as a counselor and therapist but you know your life, your family, your intimate relationships, your friendships, your thoughts and feelings. You need to be heard. In addition to what issues you’re facing, I’ll listen to learn who you are to discover your strengths, your intelligence, your resilience and your resolve to overcome your difficulties.
As a contextual family therapist, I’ll work with you and your family to explore your situation from a perspective that encompasses the larger systems of your family of origin, your current family, your friendships, community, work, and school. In addition to talk sessions, we may utilize creative modalities such as Sandtray Therapy in which you use miniatures to represent aspects of your life. We may use meditation and other methods to work on self-regulation. I have meditation playlists available to my clients.
While I am a family therapist, I welcome you to come to therapy as an individual. Our work can be accomplished more powerfully when your family is present and participating but I understand that, for many reasons, this is not always possible.
Throughout my entire career I have worked with troubled teenagers. Whether they are resistant to therapy, depressed, angry, acting out or even under the supervision of juvenile probation, teens find they can trust me and, within a short time, they begin to open up, improve their communication with their families, improve their behaviors and make strides in personal growth.
I treat children with a combination of contextual family therapy and play therapy known as Mindfulness Based Play-Family Therapy. We start each session with a brief mindfulness meditation to calm and focus our energies followed by a family talk time during which we discuss the realities of family, community and school life for the child and the family. Our goals include developing and improving parent/child communication and achieving relational healing within the family system.
After family talk time, the child and I move to my play therapy room, a safe, comfortable space stocked with carefully chosen items such as doll houses, miniatures, cars, magnets, sand, puppets, blocks and art materials that inspire the imagination. Because play is the natural language of children though which they process their world, I join the child in play, in their land of pretend. I follow where the child leads as they identify and work through their deepest issues, releasing what is holding them back from success and happiness. Subtle interventions help children learn to identify and regulate difficult feelings. Through this mindful process, children learn safe, productive emotional expression and achieve deep, personal healing.
Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed by a life circumstance or a relationship difficulty, you’re feeling anxious, depressed, angry or stuck. Maybe you’re questioning your decisions and your life’s current trajectory. Maybe your family seems to be falling apart, you’re worried about your child or your teenager is acting out or in trouble. Maybe you’ve been traumatized by a crime or other event. My areas of specialty include but are not limited to anxiety, depression, trauma including trauma related to crime, physical, emotional and sexual abuse and domestic violence, adjudicated youth, families with autism, divorced, separated and blended families and children in foster care. I am sensitive to and embracing of the wide diversity of people, inclusive of all races, ethnicities, religions and gender and personal identifies. Wherever you are in your journey, I'm here to listen and help.
My work is very satisfying. I like seeing my clients make progress and realize their potential. I like knowing I've helped people lead happier lives.
