I focus on outcomes and the needs of my clients
I don’t use a ‘one size fits all’ approach with my clients and I’m not here to tell you what I think you need. Instead, I believe it’s my job to help you determine what sort of life and relationships you want to have and then help you create that reality. I’ve chosen to learn a variety of therapy approaches so that I can be more effective in my work. Through getting to know you, your learning style, your current problems, and your goals for our work together, I’ll be able to work with you to develop a treatment plan that fits your specific needs. we’ll focus our counseling sessions on topics that will support you in moving towards your treatment goals, with regular check-ins to help ensure that you’re getting what you need from our work.
One of the great things about us humans is that we often can achieve the same goal in a lot of different ways. What this means for our work together is that we can use an approach that works for you, rather than me trying to force the current ‘in’ model of therapy on you. We’ve learned from research that while there are certain cases where one therapeutic approach works better than others, for the most part, all models work. What’s more important in therapy is building a good relationship between the therapist and client.
While I do provide 45-50 minute office sessions, which are pretty ‘standard’ for therapy and work for many people, I also realize that’s not the right fit for everyone. I’m also happy to provide services online or via telephone, and I offer sessions of different lengths as well.
How long I work with clients varies – I’ve had clients who came for just one session to get help in exploring a specific decision they wanted to make and others who have come for a period of years for help in healing from deep emotional wounds. Here’s the key part: we’ll continue our work as long as you find it helpful and productive. Some of the the factors that influence length of treatment include childhood abuse, past relationship experiences, and the amount of time and energy you can dedicate to the process. In addition, we all have our own natural ‘pace’ – you can see it in how people walk, how they talk, how they do just about anything. In our counseling sessions, we’ll work at your pace, whatever it may be.
In my experience, there’s a lot more to therapy than the actual session time we spend together. In the time between sessions, I may recommend books or suggest ‘homework’ assignments to help you reinforce and integrate the material from our sessions into the rest of your life.
I’ll teach you new tools and skills
Yes, I’m a good listener – but there’s a lot more to therapy than just talking. In many ways, I’m more like a teacher or coach, helping you learn and master the skills that will help you create the life and relationships that you want. In my office, you’ll find much more than a place to talk or vent – we’ll work together to determine what you need and help you make the necessary changes to create the life you’re looking for.
I use interdisciplinary knowledge about healing, growth, and change in my work
I love learning and have always been a voracious reader. There has been some amazing research done in recent years on the subjects of change, motivation, and success that I believe has significant relevance to the field of psychotherapy. Books such as Daniel Pink’s “Drive”, Dan Ariely’s “Predictbly Irrational”, Jim Collins’ “Good to Great”, Tony Schwartz & Jim Loehr’s “The Power of Full Engagement” and Carol Dweck’s “Mindset”, among others, have provided me with valuable tools and information that I bring to my work.
I’m not a ‘blank screen’
You may have heard about or experienced the ‘emotionless’ therapist who keeps their thoughts and feelings under wraps and presents you with a ‘blank screen’. You may have sat in the office with a therapist who waits for you to begin, even if you’ve never been in therapy before and don’t know what to do. You may have come out of a therapy session wondering why you were paying to hear yourself speak for an hour. If those things doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry – you won’t see any of them in my office. I’m a real person, with feelings, opinions, and life experience in addition to my clinical training and experience. I’m here to help people have better lives & relationships – and part of what makes that process successful is the quality of our relationship, which we can’t have if I’m not a ‘real’ person in the room. So, while you will get the benefit of my professional knowledge, skill, and experience, you’ll also get a relationship with a real human being.
