The philosophies and theoretical approaches from which I draw are diverse. I carefully follow and utilize modalities that are proven effective and considered, as the result of  formal reasearch, the "best practices." Fortunately, what is being revealed to be most effective for most clients is a friendly, informal,  strength-based approach that looks at and builds upon what is already healthy and working well in people's lives.


I appreciate the deep, psychoanalytical derivations of many emotional difficulties and have learned a lot from theorists and practitioners of object-relations, psychodynamic and intersubjectivity-based modalities that teach the need for a corrective relational experience in the course of therapeutic work.  This means that my relationships with clients are primary and that by paying careful attention to the dynamics therein, much healing can be achieved. 

Cognitive behavioral approaches, dialectical behavioral work (DBT) and other such modalities(i.e. ACT) offer a great deal in the way of practical, useful and effective strategies I offer to clients wishing to change habitual ways of being in the world.  Research has made quite clear that insight alone does not often result in behavioral changes.  I am very familiar with 12 Step processes and I’m a good resource for finding complementary programs and resources of many kinds for my clients.  I closely follow trends in career and vocational counseling

In the past few years, the practice of Mindfulness has become prominent in both my personal and professional life.  Even people who do not think they could or would ever learn or benefit from meditation can make enormous changes in their experience of life by learning to spend even a few minutes a day in quiet, breath-focused attention.  I consider myself an able, though not pushy, encourager of such practices which, along with other body-based, somatic endeavors, almost always result in more peace, less pain, and positive progress in all areas of life.