Practice Philosophy
I conduct therapy with adult individuals and couples to help them achieve their full potential and cope effectively with life's challenges. I believe people learn to act and think in the ways they do in order to survive difficult situations. Sometimes these behaviors and thoughts outlive their usefulness and are no longer effective in people's current lives.
During the first one or two sessions, we will discuss the issues bringing you to therapy and obtain other relevant background information about you. If we each decide to continue working together, we will identify goals for therapy. Based upon you, your issues, and your therapy goals, we will generally meet for therapy once every one to four weeks. Depending upon your situation and goals for therapy, our therapy may either be brief or longer-term.
In my practice, I strive to create a therapeutic atmosphere in which you can talk about anything within a neutral and nonjudgmental environment. I am active and direct in providing feedback, suggestions, and encouragement in order to facilitate your personal growth, change, and insight. I will sometimes suggest specific tasks for you to work on between sessions.
During our work together, I will encourage you to be an open and active participant in therapy and to ask any questions you may have at any time. This will facilitate your ability to achieve your treatment goals more quickly and effectively.
My theoretical orientation is predominantly cognitive-behavioral (i.e., changing thoughts and behaviors), with some elements of solution-focused (i.e., building upon positive skills and current capabilities while reducing problems into manageable pieces) and family systems approaches (i.e., understanding how relationships and interactions within families continue to influence later behavior and relationship patterns). I adapt my approach to each individual's unique situation.
During therapy, we may use several methods to help you reach your therapy goals, including:
During the first one or two sessions, we will discuss the issues bringing you to therapy and obtain other relevant background information about you. If we each decide to continue working together, we will identify goals for therapy. Based upon you, your issues, and your therapy goals, we will generally meet for therapy once every one to four weeks. Depending upon your situation and goals for therapy, our therapy may either be brief or longer-term.
In my practice, I strive to create a therapeutic atmosphere in which you can talk about anything within a neutral and nonjudgmental environment. I am active and direct in providing feedback, suggestions, and encouragement in order to facilitate your personal growth, change, and insight. I will sometimes suggest specific tasks for you to work on between sessions.
During our work together, I will encourage you to be an open and active participant in therapy and to ask any questions you may have at any time. This will facilitate your ability to achieve your treatment goals more quickly and effectively.
My theoretical orientation is predominantly cognitive-behavioral (i.e., changing thoughts and behaviors), with some elements of solution-focused (i.e., building upon positive skills and current capabilities while reducing problems into manageable pieces) and family systems approaches (i.e., understanding how relationships and interactions within families continue to influence later behavior and relationship patterns). I adapt my approach to each individual's unique situation.
During therapy, we may use several methods to help you reach your therapy goals, including:
- Finding ways to cope effectively with difficult or stressful situations
- Identifying connections between emotions, thoughts, and behaviors
- Changing how you think about yourself and your role in situations
- Challenging negative thinking and "should" statements
- Decreasing self-judgment and acknowledging positives about self
- Reinterpreting situations and events
- Gaining insight into current and past behaviors
- Identifying and changing behavior patterns
- Learning ways to regulate your emotions and use emotions effectively
- Identifying problem-solving options
- Changing interaction patterns to be more effective within relationships
- Developing coping, relaxation, and stress management skills
- Increasing emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal skills
- Developing mindfulness (ie., the ability to combine reason and emotion and to be present in the moment)