I am an experienced therapist who has been working with teens, individuals, couples and families for over 30 years. I see therapy as a partnership: you enter this process with your particular issues and uniqueness and together, through building trust, being curious, and using specialized techniques, you progress. You and I work together to better understand and enable you to make positive changes in your life. My approach is based on your personal history and needs and, in general, I am quite interactive. I provide short-term as well as long-term treatment.
One of my specialties is working with adolescents and their families. Preteen and teen years can be particularly stressful for the entire family. Having an objective adult who can facilitate productive communication and help negotiate the highs and lows of adolescence has been enormously helpful to the teens and families with whom I’ve worked.
I am an experienced EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) practitioner. EMDR is extremely effective in treatment of trauma. I also use EMDR to successfully treat behavioral addictions (for eg. gambling, pornography, etc.) and substance addictions. I have found that EMDR is extremely helpful for “Performance Enhancement”, i.e. enhancing the performance of public speakers, actors or anyone who wants to perform more effectively. I use this with students who want to increase their scores in standardized testing and have worked with many teens whose scores on the SAT or ACT have increased significantly.
Another area of expertise is in adoption issues. I have personal experience with adoption, have facilitated adoption groups and have worked with many adoptees (including many adopted adolescents), birth parents and adoptive parents.
I believe that just as plants turn toward the sun, people turn towards health and healing when given the opportunity. With assistance, people find resources within themselves to make positive life changes.