I believe in a collaborative approach to help you get the most out of counseling. Each person who comes to talk to me is uniquely different and requires the respect of an individualized approach. While I utilize sound, evidence-based approaches to therapy, I also rely on you to tell me what works and what doesn't for who you are. With open communication and feedback, we can work together to move you forward in your life.
There are a few key therapeutic approaches that guide my counseling process. My use of a cognitive-behavioral approach centers around the belief that one's thoughts and feelings affect one's moods, choices and behaviors. Increasing your awareness of this allows you to modify your thinking and your actions in positive ways. Psychodynamic theory, which I also utilize, emphasizes how one's past experiences, including family influences and critical events, can affect how one deals with current experiences. A better understanding of this will empower you to make better, more self-determining choices in your life. Depending on your goals for counseling, I may use a more solution-focused, brief therapy approach where the emphasis is on developing a plan and finding solutions to specific issues brought into therapy, rather than on symptoms or past experiences.
No matter what strategies I use, I proceed from a client-centered philosophy as the basis of my work. Ensuring that you can talk about your concerns in a safe, non-judgmental atmosphere and that you feel "heard" is in itself profoundly healing and can start you on the road to facing the challenges in your life successfully.