The human spirit is powerful. At our cores, we know our true wants and needs, but may be unaware and defenses from the past are in the way of living that way. Therapy is a unique opportunity to look at your current thoughts and behaviors, appreciate what is working for you, and change what is not.

How you feel about yourself and your beliefs about what you are capable of can influence the way you relate to others and the world. These can come from your own experiences or unhealed intergenerational trauma, or trauma that is passed down from parents and ancestors through their beliefs and behaviors. Thoughts and beliefs may get in your way again and again, determining your reactions without awareness or your free choice. This may cause you to feel “out of control” and you find yourself grasping for impossible control or perfection. The stress this causes then has negative consequences on your health and happiness. In our work together, we will expand awareness of your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs so that you have the freedom to reevaluate them and make decisions based on your actual values and desires.

We’ll also explore ways for you to respond to life and others most authentically. Understanding yourself more completely and compassionately builds confidence, openness to others and experiences, and increases your ability to respond effectively to challenges. Relationships can begin to feel more connected and your experience of life can become richer and fuller.

My practice is built on having an authentic and trusting relationship with my clients. I work well with clients who appreciate connection, straightforwardness, and humor. Although my practice is rooted in extensive formal training in cognitive, psychodynamic, and mindfulness-based treatments, my approach to each client is specifically tailored to the client’s unique situation. Helping people live more genuine, meaningful, and joyful lives is my honor, my way of uplifting individuals to uplift their communities, and contribution to a more peaceful world.

I have special interest and experience in working with:

In addition to psychotherapy as described above, I currently offer these extremely effective time-limited structured treatments as part of my practice. Let’s talk to see if one of these is right for you. I welcome you to call me for a complementary phone consultation.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY FOR INSOMNIA (CBT-I)

Prolonged Exposure for PTSD (PE)

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

Are you having trouble sleeping and would like to improve your sleep without medications? Insomnia is a common problem characterized by trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or feeling rested, despite the opportunity for adequate sleep. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is an evidence-based treatment that can effectively treat insomnia in as few as 4-6 sessions.

CBT-I starts with a thorough evaluation of sleep concerns. Sometimes the evaluation may reveal issues that would require referral to another specialist (i.e. physician) to address those specific concerns. If insomnia is the primary issue, 4-5 additional sessions will help you be on your way to improved sleep. If anxiety or another psychological condition is underlying your sleep problems, I would be able to treat you for that as well. This structured program helps us develop a new sleep schedule for you and identify and replace thoughts and behaviors that cause or worsen sleep problems with habits that promote sound sleep. I will ask you to complete a sleep diary to track your sleep patterns and work with you in sessions to help you change the way you sleep, for the better!

Prolonged Exposure for PTSD (PE)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can occur after you have been through a traumatic event where you think that your life or others' lives are in danger (i.e. physical/sexual assault, combat/military experience, accident, car accident, severe medical illness, natural disaster, and more). Common reactions after traumatic events include nightmares, intrusive thoughts and memories, depression, shame, anger, and fears of things that remind you of the event. Most people have some stress-related reactions after a traumatic event, but not everyone gets PTSD. If your reactions don't go away over time and they disrupt your life, you may have PTSD. I specialize in treating trauma and related disorders. One of the approaches I use is a treatment called Prolonged Exposure (PE).

Prolonged Exposure has been shown to be an extremely effective treatment that significantly reduces the symptoms of PTSD as well as depression, anger, shame, and anxiety that often accompany trauma. Besides decreasing symptoms, PE also helps you feel more confident and you will be better at discriminating between safe and unsafe situations, opening you up to improving many aspects of life.

Standard treatment consists of 9-15 sessions conducted once or twice weekly for 90 minutes each. The duration depends on your needs and rate of progress. PE produces clinically significant improvement in about 80% of patients with chronic PTSD. This treatment is intensive, and I have helped many patients safely and successfully overcome their trauma. I am happy to discuss whether this treatment may benefit you in our initial consultation.

Skills Group: Mindful Parenting

Please contact me to inquire about starting a Mindful Parenting class at your school or organization, or receiving individual Mindful Parenting training.

While raising a child has been said to be one of the most rewarding experiences of life, many parents often find themselves overwhelmed, angry, and perhaps exhausted when faced with the stress at times. Emotional or behavior problems in parent or child, trauma, and issues with attachment further complicate the parent-child relationship.

Parenting skills learned from books, classes, etc. are bound to collapse under stress. Knowledge about the “right” thing to do or what a “good parent should” can go out the window despite the overwhelmed parent's best intentions. This can be an additional source of stress and self-judgment for parents, especially those who find themselves repeating their parents' mistakes, exactly what they swore to themselves they would never do. While people have always been subject to large forces that influence our lives, we are also capable of making purposeful choices about how we are going to respond to the environment and moment in which we find ourselves.

Mindful Parenting is a structured 8 week program that cultivates calm in the face of unpredictable modern life with children. Drawing upon the work of Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn (Everyday Blessings; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)), this program integrates knowledge of mindfulness meditation practices with neuroscience and psychology in a way that is useful and practical, helping parents bring full awareness to raising children with compassion and wisdom. Parents who have completed this program report feeling less stressed, more responsive and less reactive to their child, more compassionate towards themselves, and closer to their children.

• To bring Mindful Parenting to your school or organization, please visit the Contact page.

• To download and listen to my meditations, visit Resources. Some of these are used in Mindful Parenting classes, and they are all great for starting or strengthening anyone’s mindfulness practice!

• For a full overview of the program, please see my article in the journal, Mindfulness