My Approach to Helping
I am an experienced psychotherapist, visual artist and essayist. I am an expert in Addiction Psychology, Moderation Management and Harm Reduction Therapies, and the Creative Process throughout the life-span. I work with individuals, groups and families.
The essential ingredient of all good therapy is the quality of the relationship between therapist and client. What happens in the therapy hour is a co-construction, which means that the client and therapist are mutually engaged in a process of learning, listening and exploring.
Over the course of my professional life, I have honored my early psychodynamic teachers, but have also learned a good deal from humanistic philosophy. The search for meaning is a human need in an often inexplicable world.
People may come to me because they are distressed about feelings, anxieties, behaviors and life-transitions. They are concerned with establishing a meaningful place in the world. Cultural context and social influence are very important factors in how we think of ourselves. Multi-generational family history also sheds light on current relationship conflicts and \"stuck\" places.
The \"I-Thou\" relationship described by Martin Buber defines the quality of my approach. I actively engage my clients in framing and exploring the issue they present with. Often the issue takes on new layers as we continue to meet. We develop our \"treatment plan\" together, and openly reflect on the treatment process.