I provide a welcoming and non-judgmental atmosphere with a focus on each person’s inherent strengths, as I would expect from every helping professional.  Each of us has our own path in life and I am here to help my clients find their way on their own path.  I am a teacher, a guide, a mentor, a cheerleader.  I take an active role in therapy - offering suggestions for behavior change, more effective communication, various ways to think about things, and improved skills to cope with life.

Most commonly people seek therapy for symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, substance-related problems, relationship issues and parenting issues.  As a social worker I am trained in a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of helping others so this means that I help to assess not only psychological symptoms, but also how the person is impacted by their environment, health and spirituality.  Social workers look at the person in their environment; we work within a systems model of human behavior.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, trauma turns out to be my main treatment focus regardless of the initial symptoms that bring people to therapy.  Of course, it is possible that someone presents for treatment and has no history of traumatic events in their life…this seems like a remote possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.  The still young field of neuroscience provides an abundance of evidence for the role of trauma in both physical and mental health problems.

I can and do provide both couples and family therapy, however, I am not a referee, I will not engage  in shame and blame and I believe that children generally respond and react to their environment (translated this means that parents have the most influence over their children and children will benefit most from parents using different tactics).  My approach is win-win so people who have a win-lose mindset are not a good match.  If you are willing and able to accept feedback and you are open to making some changes then you are a good match.

For couples, I recommend starting with one-on-one therapy if you and your partner cannot have a discussion without yelling, name-calling, shaming or aggression.  For parents, I recommend therapy and/or education for you before putting your child in therapy or seeking family therapy.  However, if your child is on psychiatric medication and/or has expressed any desire to harm themselves or others, it is advisable to seek out therapy for both you and your child.

I do not make any recommendations to family court regarding custody of minor children as this is a highly specialized area of practice and it involves extraordinarily high liability.

Please do not ask your mental health professionals to testify in court, we do not want to risk inadvertently harming you.  There are testifying expert consultants who you can hire, although they are quite expensive due to both the contentious nature of court and the high liability they face.