Psychotherapy Services

Psychotherapy for Individuals

The aim of psychotherapy is to help you to:

  • Identify and understand the nature of your challenges
  • Replace unhealthy coping strategies with self-enhancing ones
  • Increase self-acceptance
  • Become more satisfied and have higher self-esteem
  • Feel a sense of well-being
  • Know yourself

Tailoring treatment to fit your lifestyle, I offer psychotherapy that focuses on providing you with tools to better deal with stresses and challenges.

My approach also focuses on insight, which includes looking at conscious and sub-conscious reasons for why you do what you do. I'm aware that we psychotherapists are in one of the few fields where we eventually "work our way out of a job." When to start therapy as well as when to terminate is going to be up to you. 

Some of my clients have stayed in therapy for a few months, and others continue for several years. The average length of time for my clients has been one to two years. Although it may seem like a long time, one year of weekly therapy sessions is about 45 to 50 hours, or a typical workweek.

I generally work with adults who are experiencing several kinds of challenges, including:

  • Low self-esteem
  • Problems with relationships and intimacy
  • Dissatisfaction with a job or career
  • Depression and trauma
  • Loss of a loved one
  • Panic attacks and anxiety
  • Substance abuse and addictions
  • Trouble adjusting to a new relationship, a move, or other circumstances

Couples Counseling

If you're like most couples, your relationship started out with high expectations. Along the way, things happened that gave rise to disappointment, ongoing disagreements, attempts to change each other, and harmful relationship patterns. Part of the work would be to determine how each of you contribute to these issues.  We would also attempt to understand how your past experiences may affect your current relationship.

Couples counseling can be especially helpful when you and your partner can't get through to one another, experienced a breach of trust, or are going through major changes. You and your partner can learn about what has 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 respectful and productive. All couples have conflict, and unfortunately the way you communicate with each other can contribute to ongoing difficulties. Part of what I do is attempt to interrupt long-standing patterns with a focus on 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
  • Appreciate the relationship and each other
  • Restore closeness
  • Deal with issues related to sex

Once the challenges that brought you into counseling are on their way to being resolved, you may benefit from a few additional couples counseling sessions until new ways of relating to each other are firmly established.

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 has been on providing psychotherapy to individuals and couples. During graduate training, I was observed and videotaped for literally 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.