Specialties
Women Living with Stress and Anxiety
If you are a woman whose life is ruled by anxiety, you probably believe that you aren’t good enough and don’t measure up to expectations. Relentless self-blame and shame usually accompany feelings of low self-esteem and distortions in thinking. Stymied by such a harsh self-assessment, perhaps it becomes difficult to initiate plans for the future or enjoy and appreciate the success in your life.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to stay this way. I provide a space to explore the roots of anxiety, identify triggers and successfully manage anxious reactions. Through a combination of compassion and application of the right tools, relentless negative self talk will be replaced with a more nurturing, less distorted perspective. Our work will be transformational; anxiety will no longer feel like a life sentence with no exit.
Invigorating Your Relationship: Couples Counseling
If you’ve been in a long term relationship, you may be asking yourself, “Where is that lovin’ feeling?” There are many issues that contribute to a relationship becoming stale or routine-just not very interesting: heavy work schedules, financial stress, a lack of intimacy and poor communication. While the so-called ‘deadness’ in a relationship may feel like a pathway towards its dissolution, that doesn’t always have to be the case.
Couples Counseling provides a dedicated time for you to focus solely on your relationship. I will collaborate with you to develop the skills to talk openly and honestly about your feelings and needs. I will also assist you in ‘turning down the heat’ of poor communication so you are better able to listen and hear each other with less blame and judgment. Through our work together, you will gain more awareness about your role in the dynamics of your relationship—insights that will contribute to its healing. Together, we will focus on ways to enrich, enliven and restore the love that once was.
Men who struggle with Intimacy
If you are a man who struggles to express his feelings, you are not alone. Perhaps, you grew up in a family where you witnessed male role models whose range of emotions went from anger to frustration and, at times, total silence. In relationships, you may feel at a loss as to how to respond to requests from a partner or spouse for intimate communication and sharing, instead feeling annoyed at what may appear as an unreasonable demand.
Counseling is a place to learn the skills of intimate communication and become comfortable expressing vulnerability. We will explore what holds you back and then make room to accommodate new levels of emotional honesty and authenticity; this work is not only a wonderful way to transform a love relationship, it is also a way to feel more connected to who you are and experience more joy in your life.
Grief and Loss:
None of us is immune to grief: the loss of a loved one, a divorce, transitioning from a job, facing a foreclosure or feeling the pain of unresolved issues from the past can trigger a wrenching sensation—also known as grief. In order for grief to be resolved, grieving needs to be acknowledged and processed. That is how we let go and move on with our lives. Some of the symptoms of unresolved grief include: impatience, inertia, anger, anxiety, isolation and an increased reliance on substances.
Counseling is enormously beneficial if you are experiencing grief and loss. While facing grief is painful, it also presents an important opportunity to open to up in ways that weren’t available to you in the past; this process will enable you to move on to the next phase of your life with greater awareness and more psychological and emotional resilience.