My Approach to Helping
Psychotherapy is a place for the the private inner self to speak. This aspect of self has multiple voices and therapy is the place where they may be heard. What otherwise cannot be spoken may in therapy receive understanding. In this unique form of relating otherwise unheard aspects of self are extended a compassionate and intelligent ear. It is this to which I am devoted. Some of the voices that come forth in therapy are those of shame or grief or confusion or hurt or abandonment, deep places of wound and longing. Others may be the voices of lost goodness, misplaced dreams, and feared aspirations. Therapy as heart dialogue listens to the rhythms of these voices while attuning to the potentials for growth, pathways for development, images of unrealized possibilities. Psychotherapy as I practice it is a form of sustained attention to suspended and unheard aspects of self, a venue where rhythms of heart and mind can be explored, a vessel for holding the mystery that is oneself.
My training (including extensive post-doctoral levels) is in the multiple traditions of depth psychology. Part of my work in therapy also has included my writing professional papers, having given talks at international conferences, teaching at post-graduate institutes, and having served on the board of editors of several professional journals. I also bring a developed background in mindfulness and contemplative practices. Among other aspects of training, I was a post-doctoral fellow at the Erik Erikson Institute which then was part of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard. I also was a consultant at the United Nations where I served as a representative, developing and participating in numerous programs.
In addition, I am available to those therapists that are moved to deepen their own work with their clients.
I shall do all that I can to help you.
More Info About My Practice
Frequency of meetings vary from person to person according to their need and capacity. I see some persons frequently in more intensive process which allows for another level of depth and discovery to emerge. For others, meeting once a week allows over time for an emergent narrative and core themes to develop as nodal points conducive to releasment and growth through understanding to emerge. Some will meet less frequently though still with substantial benefit.
Skype or FaceTime sessions are also quite possible as well as telephone consultations as I now have experience over time in this form of provision with persons from numerous countries as well as many parts of the United States. I have found that quite often we can work well together and in a meaningful way through these modes for those who cannot meet with me in my office in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Persons who do come to my office find it at once spacious and comfortable. The atmosphere of meeting is quite important as it is part of the holding and containing environment in which the unique therapeutic dialogue unfolds. There are separate doors for the waiting room and for exit from the office to further assure privacy and confidentiality. It is, I feel, a space that is conducive to a sense of being supported as it also is a place in which one can expand without distraction. Persons regardless of their background or orientation typically find that my consulting room is where they can begin to speak with ease and from their heart, with trust.
What I Love about Being a Psychotherapist
For me, therapy is an act of creation formed between two sensibilities in a manner that gives distinction to the inner landscapes of the psyche. It affords a radical privacy where what can be spoken cannot elsewhere and in any other way be said. Here and in this way, the emotional landscapes of the self manifests in often sensitive and generative ways, healing in the process what otherwise remains unknown, unthought, or unexperienced. Aspects of self that lay fallow or dormant or in suspension find voice and with this awaken and come into being. This can be a wonderful process when the rhythm of what is unique in this form of dialogue and act of discovery finds its pace and style. What takes shape are new meanings and often an embodied understanding of ghosts of the self that begin to come alive. There is privilege and wonder in this deep listening which cultivates the relational space for these possibilities. I do love this
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