Specialties

Services Provided

Depression

If you’re depressed, it may be hard for you to get up in the morning, hard to accomplish anything, or just hard to feel like your efforts are worth it. You feel negative or blah about things you used to enjoy. You are pretty hard on yourself and think others are doing better.
You may have suffered a recent loss, or have feelings about an old loss resurfacing. You may be in middle of a major life transition and feel like you don’t have the tools to handle it. Or you are battling old demons like being too hard on yourself, blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong, and not knowing how to find comfort anywhere.
Depression can include:

  • Feeling blue, crying easily
  • Feeling guilty
  • Being irritable
  • Being bored
  • Having low energy
  • Sleeping too little or too much
  • Emotional eating or loss of appetite
  • Feeling a lack of pleasure in activities
  • Thoughts of suicide

You don’t have to be depressed. Feeling hopeless is the “dis-ease” of depression, but it is not reality. Sometimes others have to carry the hope for you. I have been helping people recover from depression for over 30 years. And people do recover.
I know that when people are depressed, they need practical help, and they need to know that someone cares and will listen to them without judgment or pressure of any kind. No one feels good when they are depressed, but the richness and pleasures of life are still there, and you can enjoy them again.

Anxiety

While anxiety is a normal response to a threatening situation, you may have trouble turning it off even when you are safe. Anxiety can be a crippling emotion. It can also feel embarrassing - especially if family, friends or coworkers don't understand the extent to which it feels like something out of control. Anxiety can keep you from doing things you want to do and being the person you want to be.
You may suffer anxiety attacks that take you by complete surprise and leave you frightened about when and where they will happen again. Or you may know exactly what kinds of situations cause you to experience anxiety - so you try to avoid them.

Anxiety problems can include:

  • Panic attacks
  • Performance anxiety at work or elsewhere
  • Feeling awkward and uncomfortable in social situations
  • Phobias
  • Obsessing about just about anything
  • Worrying about things you cannot control
  • Being fearful
  • Feeling guilty

Anxiety difficulties are treatable. They can be caused by a combination of biological vulnerabilities and learned patterns. I help people understand the causes of anxiety disorders and overcome them with a combination of practical and time-tested tools. I am flexible in my approach and will use different methods for different people. So even if you’ve tried therapy before, don’t give up.

Transition to Parenting

There is no way to prepare for the explosion of needs, work, and stress that arrive with your bundle of joy. And there’s also no way to anticipate the intense love you feel for your new baby and how that affects you and your marriage.
Starting a family is a time of both magic and challenge. Love for your baby may give you more motivation to fix things in your relationship than at any other time in your life. Problems that were minor become exaggerated with the stress of having a new baby. It’s an important time to take charge and design the way you want your family to develop and grow.
Many new mothers experience:

  • Mood swings
  • Postpartum depression
  • Feeling alone, overwhelmed, exhausted
  • A loss of sexual desire

Many new fathers feel:

  • They cannot do enough
  • Overworked and unappreciated
  • Pushed out
  • Sexually rejected

Many new parents feel unprepared for unexpected changes like:

  • Missing how you used to be as a couple
  • Roles changing, perhaps becoming more traditional
  • Renegotiating relationships with extended family

Learning about the normal changes people experience during the transition to parenthood helps couples regain their sense of equilibrium. The goals are to strengthen the friendship between you, increase intimacy, and regulate conflict, along with learning about child development and co‑parenting skills.

Marital and Premarital Counseling

It’s hard to feel happy when you’re not feeling close to your mate. You question the relationship and wonder why you have so much trouble communicating, why you keep having the same argument over and over, both of you talking and not feeling heard.
You sometimes fear that you’ve lost the romance and ability to have fun with each other. You worry about ever feeling close again or if you’ll ever break out of negative patterns.
Here are some of the areas where I can help:

  • Communication Skills
  • Dealing with Conflict
  • The Transition to Parenthood
  • Parenting Concerns
  • Sexual Difficulties
  • Infidelity
  • Premarital Counseling
  • Coping with in‑laws and step‑children

We all need a home to be a place of refuge, a place where we are understood and loved. Few of us grew up with positive models of being a family. Few of us feel prepared for the stresses that living together, working, and raising children present.
My focus is on creating a safe place for couples to understand each other and themselves. This includes helping them manage conflict, communicate more clearly, and develop skills in listening. I help people talk about sex and have a more satisfying intimate relationship.
Research shows that couples wait an average of six years from the time they know they need counseling until they actually get some help. There is no reason to put off doing something that can help you be happier and have the relationship you want.

Additional Specialties

  • Sex Therapy
  • Child and Adolescent Issues
  • Divorce
  • EMDR
  • Trauma and PTSD
  • Loss or Grief
  • Lesbian Issues
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