I have long been a student of the human condition and am fascinated by both the universals of human nature, and by what makes us each unique.   I consider it a privilege to be able to do what I do and be trusted with the most intimate details of a person’s life.  In return for this trust, I offer a completely safe, respectful, and compassionate environment in which we can together explore what your personal struggles mean in the context of your own life, and ultimately, what you need in order to heal and grow. I see my role as being that of a witness and gentle guide to one’s own process of self-discovery and empowerment.  While I hope to be able to offer insights or suggestions about how to more effectively achieve one’s goals, I don’t have any “one size fits all” blueprints or techniques other than to learn about, and gently hold, one’s inner truths until the right path is found.

Allow me to tell you a little about myself and my professional life, so you can better decide whether I’m the right therapist for you.  As an undergraduate at Yale, I was a violinist with a major in Psychology, and as a graduate student at Harvard, I studied Personality and Developmental Psychology.  After a brief academic career, I started my practice as a Child Psychologist, only to realize that spending a mere hour a week with a child couldn’t hold a candle to the impact I could have if I worked with the parents to improve the child’s home environment.  My subsequent years as a Parent Educator soon led me to see, however, that there were as many ways to parent effectively as there were books written on the subject, and that the critical factor in promoting a healthy family had everything to do with how well two parents collaborated around their values and ideas.  So I developed a communication and conflict-resolution curriculum for couples called “The Couples Health Program,” designed to teach couples the concepts and skills necessary to constructively resolve their interpersonal differences.  I figured that if couples understood the principles and mechanisms underlying effective communication, then they were equipped with the necessary tools to solve any problem that might later arise.  This curriculum led me to the world of Relationship Education, and to a deep appreciation of how relationships hold the key to wellness for an individual, for a couple, and for an entire family.

I now understand emotional health in a far broader context, and feel I can offer a kind of reflective sanctuary in which all aspects of well-being can be explored.  I love to work with adolescents – who are filled with dreams, passions and unlimited potential – with individual men and women –who are struggling to find a peaceful balance between work, relationships and their individual needs – and with couples –who seek intimacy and support in the often grueling context of life’s complexities.  In particular, I have become somewhat of an expert in working with issues of infidelity, and finding the road home to healing.

I believe that we are all doing our best to live life honorably while trying to take care of our own needs, so I never sit in judgment of your choices. As a therapist I will be an active listener, asking questions, reflecting back what I hear, offering suggestions that you can try on for size, but at all times you are in charge of the pace and manner of change. It is my privilege to accompany you on your search for meaning and happiness in this lifetime.