Qualifications

*  BA in Psychology from Oberlin College, 1987
*  Predoctoral internship at the University of Cincinnati Counseling Center 
*  Ph.D. from Miami University (APA accredited) 
*  Licensed in Massachusetts, 1997 

I have worked at a local mental health center since 1995, treating adults from a wide range of cultures and income levels.  My special interests include mood disorders like anxiety and depression, panic, trauma, grief, relationship problems, sorting out one's direction in life, spirituality and sexuality issues.  I also do pet-loss grief counseling. 

 

            

                            Photography by Joel Mulkern  

What is your approach to treatment?

My approach to therapy is collegial, supportive, gentle and practical.  I know that people understand the world in many different ways, and I am comfortable working with a variety of approaches. My therapy is based on increasing the awareness of thoughts and feelings that are often learned in childhood, and which influence emotions and behavior today.  I support people in making the changes they decide to make and teach people strategies for change.
In clinical terms, my approach to therapy can be described as a mix of cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic, and systems approaches.  I believe that misery is partly made up of thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors that cause pain.  Sometimes it is current or past relationships that cause pain, or ways of coping that once worked but now are not working as well.  People are complicated, and problems that you have tried for a long time to work out are likely to be very complicated.
Sometimes people want to take a long, careful look at their past, and others are less interested in that.  My main interest in past experiences and history is in understanding where ways of thinking and coping might have come from, so we can figure out what needs to be changed in the present.
I believe in the strength of people who want things in their lives to be different, that people are generally trying the best they can, and that they always want to get better, regardless of what their choices may look like to other people.  Therapy can help people figure out what is going on and either accept it or change it.

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