My Approach
Therapy grounded in our common humanity
When we work together, we will embark on a journey of discovery. We will travel together to find insight and perspective, meaning, and, finally, recovery.
Perspective & Insight
“It is not the things themselves that disturb men, but their judgments and notions about these things.”— Epictetus
Gaining insight is the first step toward reclaiming your life. We often become overwhelmed by our circumstances, and much of our suffering is worsened by our internal narratives—the things we learned in the past that no longer serve us. In therapy, we don’t just talk about what happened; we examine the lens through which you see it. By identifying the specific thoughts, judgments, and emotions that worsen your pain, we strip them of their power, moving you from a state of being “hurt and in pain” to a state of clear-eyed observation, choice, and renewed strength.
Meaning
“Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.”— Rollo May, The Courage to Create
When life becomes heavy or traumatic, we often feel like we are reacting on autopilot, trapped in old loops, discouraged and exhausted. I help you find and widen that “pause” between what happens to you and how you respond. Suffering becomes unbearable when it feels meaningless. Together, we explore your unique “why”—what is happening to you, how and why, as well as the values and purposes that define you. By anchoring your journey in meaning, we transform the “how” of your struggle from a source of despair into a path toward personal freedom.
Recovery
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”— Unknown
Therapy is more than a weekly vent session; it is a vehicle for transformation. Recovery is an achievable goal. In therapy, we move beyond “coping” and toward the resolution of symptoms. We work together using clinical methods to find concrete tools that allow you to become your own therapist, ensuring that the progress you make in our sessions stays with you for a lifetime.
Important Note on Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the nervous system to respond to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, function and connections.
For most of the last century the brain was thought to be fixed after childhood. It isn’t. This is the premise underneath everything I do: patterns learned in order to survive can be unlearned, and new ones built, at any age. Therapy is one of the conditions under which that change happens.