While it’s true that buried emotions may surface, therapy doesn’t cause the pain. The pain was already buried somewhere inside.

When the pain surrounding an issue is triggered by an event or a thought, it rushes forward to be worked through therapeutically – sometimes when we don’t want it to!

These painful feelings surfacing are the feelings and sensations you may have been trying to ignore or actively push away.

This pain is going to arise with or without counseling.

While it’s the defense of the ego to avoid painful feelings, it’s pushing down these uncomfortable feelings through avoidance and numbing that causes the real issue.

It’s not what happens, but how we relate to what happens that becomes the issue.

Ignored feelings are outside of your awareness where they fester, grow and cause even more problems. These pushed-down feelings tend to pop up inconveniently, damaging your relationships, including the one with yourself.

In therapy, I teach clients Emotional Ecology so that clients can process emotions, sensations, and feelings in healthy, adaptive ways.

So this leads to increased inner connection, increased self-esteem, and improved satisfaction in relationships.

This is because expressing how you are impacted in a non-blaming way removes your blocks to vulnerability and thus increases the possibility of intimacy in your relationship with yourself and with others.

I know what you mean. I don’t like talking to people I don’t know, either. The first sessions are geared toward getting to know a little bit about you and answer any questions you may have about the therapy process.

We will discuss the process of therapy and set goals for our work together. By that time, clients feel comfortable enough to begin sharing some of their most pressing and more general issues.

It can take a few sessions to feel comfortable enough to share highly personal information. Some clients jump right in, as they are relieved to finally have a place where they can share what is honestly on their mind without feeling judged.

In any case, you are not expected to share anything that you feel too uncomfortable to share. Therapy is a process of unfolding in a setting where the client can feel safe, understood and respected.

This is part of the supportive, therapeutic boundaries that I establish. I create a safe space for you speak honestly.

The therapeutic process is a relationship based on trust; as the client, you set the tone, and I help you identify that boundary, wherever it is.

Counseling session work is an investment in you. Consider the cost of both your past and current challenges and conflicts.

For example, if a costly divorce is on the horizon, and children are involved, consider the emotional toll on the entire family – immediate and extended.

There are no winners in a divorce.

Also, increasing peer-reviewed research points to the mind/body connection and the cost of unresolved psychological conditions like anxiety and depression that contribute and impact costly physical illnesses.

Consider there is a part of everyone’s brain that is constantly scanning for danger in the environment. When you have a bad experience, your brain helps protect you by looking at the world as a dangerous place.

The brain goes into overdrive until it can figure out how to make sure this bad thing never happens again.

This kind of brain work leaves you feeling exhausted and depleted on all levels. So, if you are thinking about painful past events, it means the past is weighing you down.

Therapy can be very helpful in the healing and releasing of bad, painful memories so that your mind, brain and body can recover and heal.

I endeavor to make sure you are benefiting from therapy by working with you to make sure that your therapeutic needs are being met in a timely manner. I rely on a system of vital feedback from you to chart the most effective course to your healing, expansion and growth.

Being the master of your own ship, joy and enthusiasm come from the experience of navigating life’s challenges effectively. Learning to figure out what is most beneficial to focus on to identify unmet needs is vital to your healing and growth.

When you have developed some mastery on how to go about getting your unique needs met in adaptable ways that leave you feeling empowered and expansive, you will know that experience is actually priceless.

Therapy is a temporary, but high-value investment in yourself, in the quality of your relationships, and in your continued expansion, growth and healing.

Here is a link to an abstract of a peer-reviewed study showing the efficacy of psychological interventions on personality traits. Recent St

A mental health counselor is a coach-for-the-mind. Imagine a football or baseball team without a coach. Many famous athletes utilize the services of a mental health skills coach to grow from being great athletes to being top athletes.

It’s the mindset of the top athlete that makes him the best. And the top athlete wouldn’t dream of attempting to make it to the top without the expertise of their coaches.

Seeking consultation and therapeutic support demonstrates you care about yourself enough to invest in yourself. It’s a highly responsible act of foresight, courage and demonstrates your learning orientation toward life.

We all know the lessons never stop coming, and there are only higher levels to attain or downward levels that reap pain and suffering. Nothing stays the same. The only constant is change. Where do you see yourself in one or two years?

Sometimes clients come in alone to get help working on their important relationships, when, for whatever reason, their partner doesn’t want to attend therapy. Work can still be done to improve the relationship so that each partner is getting important needs met.

Sometimes your partner will come into an occasional session with you once you have started.

My clients are couples or adults in relationship (friends, adult siblings, roommates, etc.).

Anyone between the ages of 18 and 130 years.

Counseling can move more quickly if you are willing to do just 15 minutes of homework a day.

Some clients, however, like to take the no-homework route. While I am all for achieving a goal in the least painful way, it just depends on the particular challenge you are facing.

I can say that you will not become a good communicator unless you practice the skills.

At the same time, you may be able to change unwanted behavior through developing awareness in session work that doesn’t require much homework.

In the final analysis, it just depends on what your needs are. Your needs are discussed during each session: What they are and how to get them met in ways that leave you feeling good about yourself and others.

If you are experiencing a lot of chaos and painful symptoms, it could be a while before you are ready to engage in meaningful homework.

It’s sort of like going to the hospital with breathing problems and a twisted ankle. The staff is going to make sure you are breathing well before they focus on tending to your twisted ankle.

I have a corner office on the second floor off the main street, without the noise of traffic. I have large picture windows which face out upon the trees in complete privacy.

My office is wheelchair accessible via an elevator. Restrooms are nearby the waiting room which is available upon entering the suite. 

Only top-of-the-line 3 ply tissues made by Kleenex.

Good question. My training covers a wide range of modalities that even if I named them you probably wouldn’t know what those therapeutic approaches actually mean.

The best way I can describe the type of therapy I use is to say that I work in a respectful, non-judgmental way. I work to make sure that you are feeling understood, supported in the way you need support.

I have been in therapy myself and can appreciate how challenging it can be to really share what’s on your mind without holding back.

And, I know firsthand how hard it can be to approach your therapist with something that isn’t working for you. But doing so is very therapeutic and healing.

I ask for frequent feedback from clients not only about how they are feeling and what they are thinking, but also about whether the tools I am sharing are tools that are working for the client.

With my expertise in human behavior and your expertise on the experience of your life and how you see yourself, others and the world, we chart a course that identifies and addresses your goals for therapy.

For example, if you come in wanting to work on your anxiety and you are, say, drinking or smoking a lot more than you would like to, but cutting back on these habits is not on your goal list, you can be comfortable knowing I am not going to address the habits of drinking and smoking.

As the client, you decide what is important to you and what exactly you want to address.

I am of the belief there are a thousand roads to Rome, and so the way that works for the client is the best way. I encourage clients to explore what is meaningful for them.

Now depending on the client’s preferences, I may do more listening and less discussing. We discover your path together, but you are always in the driver’s seat.

Some clients I work with benefit from doing somatic work or mindfulness practices. That is using awareness in a particular way to focus attention to their inner experience of sensations and urgings in the always- evolving moment of now.

Other clients do best when they use their imagination or mythology to find meaning and promote healing and change. Some clients like to draw, recreate their narrative for self-empowerment.

Most clients thrive with using role play and practicing skills while some just don’t like it. Clients working with anger will often practice healthy ways to release that very strong energy while in session, and they really appreciate being able to do that.

Consider I have a very large tool bag, and my life’s work is to find a way to empower you on your healing journey, based on your goals, your values and what is meaningful to you.

Relevant training includes:

Master’s in Counseling Psychology 2008
Level 1 Lens Practitioner in Neurofeedback
Domestic Violence Training – 52 hours
Gestalt Training – one school year
Masters of Spiritual Science 2015
Consciousness Health and Healing Certified in 2016
Licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California 2017
CBT – TEAM Practitioner Level 1 2019
Currently being trained in Gottman Couples Method

I have also received additional training in cultural diversity, spiritual emergencies versus psychotic breaks, conscious dying, conscious living leadership training, communication skills, wisdom studies and integration of festival experiences.

I have also learned a lot through my volunteer work with the American Cancer Society, Red Cross disaster relief, and other organizations.

Less relevant but still valuable:

In 1985, I earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Pepperdine University and went to work in the entertainment industry in corporate development. However, I could not find the satisfaction and fulfillment I was seeking. This search eventually led me to the field of Counseling Psychology.

I have treated a wide variety of clients suffering from a wide range of psychological symptoms. I have had clients suffering from OCD, personality disorders, addictions, PTSD, body dysmorphic issues, eating disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar, borderline, dependent personality disorder, anxiety and depression.

I have worked with actors, creative artists, film makers, singers, writers, musicians, corporate executives, lawyers, doctors, housewives, engineers, IT guys, college students, children, adolescents and teens, veterans, employees, couples, same-sex couples, queer clients, and burners.

I have worked with clients from different cultural backgrounds: from Africa, China, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, South America, Europe, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia… just to name a few.

I value and appreciate the value of cultural differences and work to bring them into the conversation to explore how culture is impacting a situation.

Regarding religious affiliation, I have worked with Christians, Agnostics, Atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, Jewish clients, and ex-cult members.