Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Psychotherapy Services
I consider it a privilege to work with each person/family seeking my services
and I look forward to connecting with you.
I am committed to helping you maximize your ability to live a
developmentally healthy and relationally fulfilled life – to be able to target
and move through unresolved developmental issues (both for individuals and
families) at any age. As the phrase Growing Up is Hard to Do! notes, we
are influenced by so many factors that shape how we grow throughout our
lives. Whether it is helping with the normal growing pains at any age or
helping to identify and address more serious issues (chronic mental illness,
trauma, addiction, abuse, attachment disruptions/adoption),
creating a supportive therapeutic environment to maximize healthy growth is my goal.
I bring a highly informed and experienced ability to assess and create a treatment plan
specific to your needs. Additionally, it is my priority to help you feel safe and
heard in treatment.
Seeking psychotherapy services from an experienced mental health
professional can immediately help when problems arise. The benefits of
receiving my specialized and experienced psychotherapy services are listed below.
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Separating "normal" from "not-normal" adolescent behaviors
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Alleviating acting-out (towards others) or acting-in (towards self) high risk behaviors
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Improving academic performance and relationships with school staff
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Increasing the ability to form healthy relationships with peers
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Building self-esteem
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Strengthening problem-solving, conflict resolution and communication skills
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Facilitating identity development
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Stabilizing the changing family dynamics and structure to maximize healthy growth
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Strengthening family relationships
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Preparing the adolescent and family for the transition into adulthood
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Attending to unresolved childhood and adolescent issues & developmental tasks (as identified above)
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Supporting the transition into adulthood, including separating “normal” versus “not-normal" experiences for this age and empowering the movement towards independence
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Strengthening continued identity development as a young adult
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Identifying and treating young adult onset mental health issues
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Promoting achievement of personal, relational, educational and occupational goals
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Stabilizing changing family, peer and intimate relational dynamics to support healthy young adult functioning
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Receiving help expanding the understanding of the factors currently impacting your life happiness – gain a new perspective on you!
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Recognizing and strengthening the coping skills you already have while developing new emotional and relational skills to thrive through adulthood
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Learning how to turn life challenges (past and present) into opportunities for healing and growth
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Attending to unresolved developmental issues and/or trauma to help you grow into thriving in your current life stage
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Learning how to recognize, tap into and use your own or your family’s own inner resilience (everyone and every family has it!) to better your life
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Strengthening your ability to create, sustain and maximize fulfilling relationships – whether it be in friendships, work relationships, in couple/marital relationships and/or family relationships
While the benefits are numerous, I understand that the decision to seek mental health services is very personal and affecting to each person and/or family.
Depending on one's prior experience with or lack of experience with mental health services, initiating psychotherapy can be met with emotions ranging from relief, hope and excitement to anxiety, suspiciousness and shame.
Additionally, engaging in psychotherapy during adolescence can bring unique individual and family developmental challenges to overcome in order to successfully engage in and benefit from the experience.
The most common challenge is resistance -- often a lot from the teen and
sometimes from family members. Teenagers do not want to feel different from others in any way.
They often feel invincible against the world and all the risks and challenges they face. That is why starting psychotherapy services can feel unnecessary and uncomfortable to an adolescent.
Additionally, families sometimes feel that it is solely the teenager that needs to be"fixed" and therefore may be resistant to considering that family therapy may, in fact, be the most helpful
intervention to most quickly alleviate the problems bringing their teen to treatment.
Starting services includes conducting a comprehensive assessment of the presenting treatment issues
to determine if my services are a good fit for you and/or your family and what those services would
involve -- individual and/or family therapy. Additional recommendations will be made if other service
providers are considered necessary for a complete treatment plan (i.e., psychiatrist, nutritionist, other
support therapists, yoga therapist, acupuncturist). Assessment will continue throughout the course of
treatment to ensure the most effective treatment plan is in place. If at any point I feel that my
services are not the best fit, I will provide referrals to respected colleagues in the field that may better
serve your needs.
Creating a supportive therapeutic environment to maximize healthy growth is my goal.
Please feel free to contact me to schedule an initial session.
I look forward to connecting with you.