My Approach to Helping
I provide Family and Elder Counseling and Psychological Services to Individuals, couples and families. Working together, you can look forward to relieving tension in your life and restore calm to the lives of people you care about. I offer telehealth and online counseling in most States and am Medicare certified.
I work to help you and your family make sense out of confusing emotional dynamics, reduce pain and restore joy to your life together. Efficient marriage and relationship counseling focuses on removing communication barriers and learning the skills to express mutual caring. With objective and attentive guidance and support I can help enhance quality of life, deal with anxiety and depression, and overcome loneliness.
Perhaps loneliness, anxiety, grief or resentment has gotten in the way of your togetherness as a couple. I can help you resolve those strong, negative, emotional forces and get you back to a joyful connection with each other.
At times it's necessary to deal with relationship fears of intimacy, including sexual intimacy, or to counteract feelings of resentment and anger. If you or someone you know needs counseling for addiction, I provide you with the tools to find better ways to take care of yourself so that you no longer need addictive behaviors to feel good. I am particularly interested in working with you if you struggle with relapse. Do not limit yourself.
Executive or life coaching can be effective for you if you have the desire to do more and better in any part of your life: relationships, work performance, school, career advancement, physical health, or quality of lifestyle. I am qualified for online consultations through phone, email, or video.
More Info About My Practice
I do not work with insurance companies except Medicare. Although I did at one time, I came to realize that it was harmful to my clients to give insurance companies as much information as they require to certify coverage of counseling. All of this personal and private information about you, your spouse, your family at large, and even at times your children, is stored in three major data banks.
Anyone in any kind of insurance business has access to these data banks and all of your private information. This includes those in the future who may sell you insurance, including disability, life, auto, mortgage insurance, etc. This information is also readily available to people doing security checks on you. I have seen people denied promotions because they went to counseling or treatment of some sort, and were seen as a sign of personal defect.
Too many of my clients were denied insurance coverage, did not qualify for security clearances, and were harmed in other ways that I decided I would not work with insurance companies any longer.
I understand that in some cases people cannot afford counseling if they do not use their insurance. I just want you to be informed of the potential hazards if you use insurance to cover counseling. If finances are a problem for you, please contact me. I have several options that I can offer you to help manage paying for counseling and coaching.
However, let me ask you this: do you expect your insurance company to cover attorney fees or accounting fees or architectural fees or regular service and maintenance of your car? So why have we come to expect insurance companies to cover counseling and then have to run the risk of that paper trail coming back to harm us in the future? I would urge you to think carefully before establishing a mental health diagnosis that will be on your record forever.
Even bankruptcy gets dropped from your credit report after a few years. However, if you've had one counseling session that insurance paid for, you now have a mental health diagnosis that will never be taken off of your health record.
My Role as a Therapist
My job is to help you as strategically and efficiently as possible find the options you need in order to resolve troubling issues or behaviors in your life. I will help you gain a larger perspective which in turn gives you a calmer sense about your situation. As you feel less anxious you will be able to regain your thoughtfulness and problem solving ability.
I promise to help you find new approaches to dealing with problems and to coach you in developing skills you need to sustain a higher level of functioning and quality living.
On the Fence About Going to Therapy?
Counseling is not for everyone. But if you are thinking you might benefit from some objective feedback from someone trained in assessing human behavior you might consider getting a coach. As a coach I do not need to give you a diagnosis. I do not need to think of you as having an illness or problem in any way.
I can give you is new perspective and strategies for moving from where you are to where you want to be. Give me a call and I'll tell you how this works.
Why Going to Therapy Does Not Mean You are Weak or Flawed
Unfortunately, psychology and counseling has been classified as a medical practice. Using a counselor for therapy is seen by your insurance company (and unfortunately most people) as a medical procedure. If you go to a physician, that means you are sick or have some sort of medical issue. Your doctor will give you a diagnosis before you can be treated and certainly before your insurance company will cover your physician's services. So,this medical model of thinking has carried over to counseling and in so doing created stigma and harm.
If you go to your attorney or your accountant to use their expertise in dealing with some issue in your life does that mean you're sick or need a diagnosis? Of course not. Likewise, in my mind, using a counselor or coach to help you deal more efficiently and effectively with an issue in some part of your life does not mean you are sick or need a diagnosis. It just means you are human and smart because you realize you may not have the expertise needed to deal with a given issue.
This is one of the reasons I do not work with insurance companies because any person, marriage or family I work with I do not see as sick and or needing a diagnosis. Even though insurance companies will not pay for your counseling unless you have a diagnosis, I think that is wrong.
Needing some support or suggestions about how to deal with personal or emotional issues in your life does not mean you are weak or ill. Any more so than when you take your car in for repair or hire someone to help you with financial management.
Clinicians who offer sliding scale payment structures may offer lower or reduced fees based on an individual's ability to pay. Please contact this clinician for more details regarding their fees or sliding scale policy.
