Services

Individual Therapy with Adults

If you are struggling with a problem and are not sure how to cope or where to turn, you would be a good candidate for individual therapy. Individual therapy enables you to work one-on-one with a therapist in a safe, caring, non-judgmental and confidential environment.

There are many reasons to seek out individual therapy. Some may include:

• Struggling with an issue you do not feel equipped to resolve
• Dealing with grief and loss
• Coping with depression, anxiety, anger or fear
• Learning to heal from an eating disorder and/or body dysmorphia
• Issues from the past are surfacing and are increasingly affecting your current life
• Learning how to cope with the effects of a diagnosis of a mood or personality disorder such as bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality, etc.
• You have a desire to explore yourself to gain personal knowledge and growth

Individual therapy enables you to explore your feelings, identify aspects of your life you would like to change, better understand yourself and others, set personal goals and work towards positive change.

Individual Therapy with Older Adults

The transitions of aging can be difficult. Therapy with older adults enables you to explore your life both past and present in a supportive and confidential environment. It enables you to examine your thoughts, feelings, behaviors and attitudes. It provides you with ways to accept the past, enjoy the present and have a quality future.

Some reasons to seek out therapy include:

• Coping with the physical limitations of aging
• Sadness or guilt over past experiences and decisions
• Concern for family and friends
• Fear or anxiety over aging and/or death
• Grief and loss of loved ones
• You have a desire to explore yourself to gain personal knowledge and growth

Exploring the issues that arise as you age can be very beneficial. It can enable you to create a positive quality of life where you are happy, confident and feel like you are making a difference.

Individual Therapy with Adolescents

Being an adolescent can be tough. As you grow and begin to become your own person there are many decisions to make and at times it can be overwhelming. Adolescent therapy provides a confidential, supportive and non-judgmental environment that enables you to focus on the issues as seen through your eyes. The goal of therapy is to explore and resolve the issues causing you pain.

Some reasons you may want therapy:

• Problems with your parents/family/siblings
• Disordered eating and/or poor body image
• Issues with your friends
• Coping with school
• Dealing with difficult peer pressure
• Coping with some bad decisions that have caused issues within your family – perhaps drug use, sneaking out of the house, breaking curfew - and figuring out how to make positive changes
• Depression, anxiety, fear of the future

During therapy when it is appropriate and you agree, your family may be involved as necessary to provide feedback and support.

Your needs, thoughts and feelings are important and you have many strengths to draw upon and we will use these strengths to help you become happy, healthy and confident and feel in control of your life.

The Process

Assessment

When you come in for the first time, I will conduct an assessment where I will ask you some questions to gain an understanding of your emotions, thoughts, behaviors, coping strategies and personal strengths. We will discuss your life both past and present, explore why you are seeking therapy and discuss what your goals are for therapy.

Schedule

Together we will identify a frequency and schedule for our meetings. This will largely depend on your availability and your goals.

Treatment Plan

In the next couple of sessions as we get to know one another and further explore your goals, we will work together to create an individualized treatment plan that will identify your goals and our action plan to reach your goals.

Finances

I accept Blue Cross Blue Shield and Private Pay.
$165 per session
There may also be some sliding scale options if needed.

Couples Therapy

Couples therapy is designed to work through areas of conflict and/or to work on aspects of your relationship you would like to change. Working with a therapist in a safe and confidential setting enables you to explore how your individual background, beliefs, attitudes, thoughts and behaviors may be affecting your relationship in both positive and negative ways.

There are multiple stressors that affect couples. Some reasons to seek out therapy may include:

• Work stress affecting time together
• Money stressors
• Differences and/or difficulties in child rearing
• Children growing and leaving the house
• Caring for aging parents
• Loss of togetherness leading to the feeling of living separate lives
• Infidelity
• Grief and loss due to a crisis

Couples therapy can help you focus on and strengthen the relationship so you can face life stressors together as a supportive, happy and healthy couple.

Family Therapy

Family therapy is designed to improve the communication and relationships within the family unit. In families sometimes conflicts arise, effective communication becomes difficult, family relationships struggle and the family can become fragmented.

Some reasons to seek out family therapy may include:

• As family members have grown and become more individualized, communication has become increasingly difficult
• A family crisis has occurred which has put a strain on the family and communication has broken down
• The family as a unit is dealing with grief and loss
• A divorce has changed the family dynamics
• A new step-parent has been introduced into the family unit

The goal of family therapy is to learn to communicate effectively, honestly and respectfully with one another to enable you to provide support to each other and become a cohesive, happy, healthy and loving family unit.

The Process

Assessment

When you come in for the first time, I will conduct an assessment where I will ask each of you some questions to gain an understanding of your emotions, thoughts, behaviors, coping strategies and personal strengths. We will discuss your family life both past and present, together and separate, explore why you are seeking therapy and discuss what your individual as well as your collective goals are for therapy.

Schedule

Together we will identify a frequency and schedule for our meetings. This will largely depend on your availability and your goals.

Treatment Plan

In the next couple of sessions as we all get to know one another and further explore your goals, we will work together to create an individualized treatment plan that will identify your collective goals and our action plan to reach your goals.

Finances

I accept Blue Cross Blue Shield and Private Pay.
$165 per session
There may also be some sliding scale options if needed.

LMSW Supervision

I am a board approved supervisor and have been providing supervision for LMSWs seeking clinical certification for over ten years. I offer group supervision at $150 per hour. We meet biweekly for two hours at a time.

Supervision includes focus on case consultation, application of therapeutic techniques, DSM practice and test preparation.

I have an eclectic approach to therapy which means I use a variety of techniques based on your individual needs as the client. I believe it is important that you have information necessary to make an informed decision for your therapy needs. To that end, I have listed and defined some of the techniques I use.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Stems from CBT and is an action-oriented approach to therapy. Clients learn how to stop struggling with their thoughts and emotions and rather learn to accept them and commit to making the changes they want in their behaviors regardless of their emotions.

Solution-focused therapy

This is a goal oriented therapy that focuses on solutions rather than problems. This technique encourages the client to imagine the future he/she wants. The therapist and client then explore the skills and resources the client has and how those can be used to reach his/her goals. Together steps are identified which can be changed, updated and modified as necessary. Throughout the process the therapist asks specific questions designed to help the client explore his/her thoughts, feelings, behaviors, attitudes and fears and also helps the client recognize his/her successes towards meeting his/her goals.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a very powerful technique and utilizes other techniques such as Cognitive Restructuring as part of the CBT process. CBT is evidence based and has been shown in many instances to be more effective than medications and certainly more effective than medications alone. CBT focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring patterns of thinking that lead to self-destructive actions and the beliefs that direct these thoughts, the client can modify his/her patterns of thinking to improve coping.

Cognitive restructuring is a form of CBT where the client and therapist work together to identify the client’s destructive thought processes known as “automatic thoughts”. As these are identified, techniques are used to help the client notice these thoughts and begin to replace them with positive thoughts. Some of the techniques used to help the client identify and replace negative thoughts include journaling, mindfulness meditation, thought recording, guided imagery and thought replacement.

Task-Centered Problem Solving

This technique follows a problem-solving model. The central theme to this model is that the client is capable of solving his/her own problems and this technique focuses on the problems identified by the client as important to address. This is an action-oriented model and works along with other techniques such as CBT. The client identifies and prioritizes up to three major problems he/she would like to address. The idea is to take each problem and break it down into smaller, more manageable pieces. The client and therapist agree on goals and develop general and specific tasks to achieve goal attainment. Progress is monitored throughout the process.

The key to this process is to break down general problems and general tasks into specific, action-oriented tasks that can be completed within a specific time frame and will lead to progress towards the larger problem. This makes problem solving more manageable and helps the client to regain control of his/her life and confidence in his/her skills.

Gestalt Model - Empty Chair

The term gestalt refers to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt therapy works towards creating a full awareness of the here and now. The empty chair is one of many interactive techniques used to help engage the client’s feelings, thoughts and behaviors. The idea of the empty chair is to enable the client to verbalize conflicts with others in a safe and controlled environment. It also affords the client a greater understanding of his/her own feelings and communication.

Narrative Therapy

A method of therapy that separates the client from the problem and encourages the client to rely on his/her own skill sets to minimize the problems that exist in everyday life. Throughout life, personal experiences are transformed into personal stories that are given meaning and help shape a person’s identity, and narrative therapy utilizes the power of people’s personal stories to discover the life purpose of the narrator.

Telling the story of a problem is a form of action toward change. In this model the therapist helps to objectify problems, frame them within a larger sociocultural context, and make room for other stories. Together, the therapist and the client identify and build upon “alternative” or “preferred” storylines that exist beyond the problem story; these provide contrast to the problem, reflect the client’s true nature, and offer opportunities to rewrite his/her story.