My Approach to Helping
You can read the complete bio on my website, but let's hit the highlights here. Since the 8th grade, I have wanted to be a therapist – primarily driven by a desire to help people, but a close second is my general fascination with why humans think and act the way they do. I studied psychology, minoring in philosophy, and began working in mental health in 1996. At first, this was with "at-risk" children and teens, although later I shifted to residential treatment while pursuing my master's in school counseling. Although I had always wanted to work in a clinical setting, being a guidance counselor was a more practical start. However, after six years, I was a bit jealous of handing off my kids to other providers to do the therapeutic work.
So in 2009, I left schools, and for about ten years, I provided and supervised crisis services. This involved working with everything from schizophrenic 60-year-olds to self-injurioussuicidal teens and 9-year-olds with OCD. I found clients with bipolar and borderline diagnoses very interesting and started to focus more on these disorders around the mid-2010s, diving into clinical research. After fully recognizing the impact of traumatic experiences on these clients, I sought training specific to trauma as I transitioned into my own independent clinical practice. Although I didn't exactly plan it, this developed into a strong focus on sexual assault treatment, which now makes up the majority of my private practice clients. Surprisingly, and perhaps because I'm male, I encounter a high percentage of survivors of female sexual abusers, a neglected subset of survivors who come with some unique challenges. That said, moving into trauma work has also given me the privilege of working with a broad client base, including combat PTSD veterans and first responders. Last but not least, as I mentioned, I enjoy working with teenagers, the gifted, and anyone with philosophical meaning-of-life questions. Also, and maybe I should list this under special skills, I never get tired of listening to teen drama. 😊