My approach

Psychology and “mental health” have had a very turbulent history, and many people who consider the prospect of therapy do so with a lot of deep and ambivalent expectations - these expectations take the form of many urgent questions: Will therapy work for me? Can I change? Can I get better? Will I be trusted and believed in? What if therapy will just make things worse?

I cannot sedate these questions, and nor would I want to - I believe they arise for good reason. Therapy is a risk. You take a risk in opening yourself up to another person, and by opening up in this way there is an unavoidable vulnerability. I believe this vulnerability is the place where the “real work” is done. But, in this place there will always be not only the opportunity for great benefit, but also and always the opportunity for great harm.

I do not mean to strengthen the fears of anyone who is already apprehensive about therapy. I only mean to acknowledge my understanding of the stakes that can be involved in this sort of endeavor. It is therefore in lieu of this understanding that my approach to therapy is relationally founded and client focused.

The therapy I practice strives to be aware of the risks inherent to relationships - which is thus to say, inherent to therapy. By placing an emphasis on this relational frame, and working to attune with the clients that I see, the therapeutic process is capable of uncovering a deep well of interpersonal insights - insights which I believe are often only achievable in a shared social context.

We cannot know ourselves, alone. Or, perhaps it’s just that we have a limited understanding of ourselves, alone. I think therapy is an event where we can learn a form of self-understanding that manifests from seeing, anew, how we participate in the world with others. And in this participation, I am wholeheartedly with you.