My Approach to Helping
Do you feel anxious much of the time? Are you worried what others think about you or what you just said? Is it hard to stand up for yourself? Are you negative about yourself even when you may not deserve it? I understand. Constantly seeking others' approval and trying to please everyone is exhausting. Left unchecked, anxiety can dominate. It interferes with your well-being, your relationships with friends, family, and your intimate companion. It can create challenges at work and with your health.
I am an anxiety therapist. I’ve helped hundreds of people who struggle and worry. With a combination of self-understanding and an array of holistic practices, we’ll work to reduce your anxiety and regain your strength and inner direction. Through our joint effort, you’ll learn tools to ease negative thinking, gain self-understanding, and increase calmness.
I work with people who are struggling and wish to resolve their difficulties and move forward. The pain may be from anxiety, feeling isolated, troubles in relationships, at work, or with your health. I will do my best to help you feel welcome, understood, safe and inspired to grow. Most clients feel a gradual lifting of symptoms in the first month and sustained improvement thereafter.
Deep listening is the heart of what I do. Clients tell me that they feel understood by me, and that I help them find meaning and new perspectives hidden in painful struggles. They say that I'm easy to talk to. It's my hope that you'll gain insight, be kinder to yourself, and learn new, more satisfying behaviors. Feel free to reach out. I'm here to help.
More Info About My Practice
I've been an independent or solo practitioner for my whole career, more than 35 years. I've found that the longer I do this work, the more meaningful it is to me and the more devoted I feel. It's deeply gratifying to work side-by-side with another who is bravely trying to work out pain, struggles, feel better, and treat themselves and others in the best ways.
In addition to having a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and the Marriage, Family Therapy License, I am an Executive Leadership coach. I worked for 22 years at Duke Integrative Medicine as a coach, instructor, and mentor for coaches in training.
How Psychotherapy Can Help
We all need to be accompanied, listened too, and supported to work through challenges and make positive change. Sometimes you can be surrounded by lots of people, yet you don't feel like they hear you or know how to help you with your concerns and worries. Therapy provides a private place where you can speak your truth. My job is to listen deeply, ask questions that provoke new thoughts, insights, and ultimately behaviors in you, and to do this with human caring and empathy. We need to feel comfortable and safe in order to do this self-exploration. I work to create that safe and supportive environment for you.
My View on the Purpose of Psychotherapy
Therapy is about helping you understand and resolve challenges. It's also about your gaining insight and tools to manage difficult habits and make new ones. I have a lot of experience helping clients understand and overcome feelings of anxiety and or depression but people come with a vast array of concerns and challenges (relationship struggles, work issues, health concerns, and more). Whatever you bring, I will do my best so that you feel comfortable, well-received, and safe. Then we'll delve into what's bothering you in order to gain greater self-understanding and hopefully progressively have more options to make different choices, change behaviors that aren't working for you, and more and more with a focus on being kind to yourself.
