Therapy

I believe that psychotherapy is an interactive process that calls for both the client and the therapist to be as fully involved as possible.  Therefore, I participate actively with my patients, sharing my thoughts, impressions, and reactions to what we are talking about.  I believe that people can change even long-standing patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior if THEY participate actively.  My job is to create a space where clients can be curious and learn about the ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that they bring to their lives, and about how these ways work for them and against them.  I create this space by bringing both my professional training and understanding and my human compassion, empathy, and respect.

In my practice, I typically meet with people once a week; if there is a need for additional support, or if we decide together that more intense work is called for, meeting twice a week can be very useful.  Even meeting once a week allows clients to develop enough comfort with me and with therapy for our work to be effective and helpful.
Regarding my theoretical grounding, I have intensive training in Psychodynamic, Cognitive-Behavioral, Gestalt, and Existential therapeutic approaches, and I draw from each of these as the client and client's situation call for.  Some therapists subscribe to and identify with one school of thought and apply that way of thinking and working to every client.  I first work to understand each client's particular issues, needs, and style of thinking and feeling.  THEN, I use the approach and methods that I believe would be most useful to that patient, and remain open to using whatever else might work based on what develops.  Therefore, my orientation is eclectic, and my methods are determined by the patient's personality and needs.