Who do I work with?
I see couples, families, and individuals--children and adults. My practice is relationship focused and is based in Attachment theory, Trauma, and Acceptance and Commitment therapeutic models.
Adult Individuals
I work with adults that have a wide variety of issues, from major mental health disorders to situational or temporary issues.
Temporary or situational issues include relationship problems, life-disruptions, grief and loss, post-relationship issues, stage of life, and geriatric counseling.
Major mental health disorders include: PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorders, and Personality Disorders .
Couples:
My primary influences for couples therapy include John and Julie Gottman and Emotionally Focused Therapy practices.
With couples, I focus on teaching practical skills in communication strategies and de-escalation techniques while also going deeper into the root causes of relationship problems. I see many couples where one or both partners have a trauma history, grief and loss issues, chemical dependency issues, medical issues, or current and/or past mental health issues. I work with couples in polyamorous relationships, couples that are considering long-term commitments, divorcing, and post-divorce couples who are having parenting conflicts.
Families
I work with all sorts of family situations: divorcing, post-divorce, blended, single parent, traditional, and non-traditional. I work as a therapist with court-involved families and I am entirely comfortable with high conflict parenting cases. In family therapy, I see the family itself as the primary focus.
The relationship between childhood experiences and adult functioning is often seen when a person starts parenting. When faced with the enormity of parenting tasks and choices, adults often fall back on what they learned as children. Sometimes the lessons learned from role models are helpful, other times they can be quite problematic. The resolution to family problems often starts with parents looking at their own experience as children to see where their parenting skills and practices came from.
Friction between couples, and within families, often drives a child's acting out behaviors or other signs of emotional distress. And, of course, children acting out or showing emotional distress can create friction or expose divides between a couple or within families. As such, it makes sense that in order to work effectively with children, one must work effectively with couples and families.
Relationship work with couples often involves working with childhood traumas and family of origin issues. Attachment patterns developed in childhood are often perpetuated in adulthood attachment styles. Successful counseling doesn't require a patient to delve into his or her relationship with parents, or details of their childhood experience, but looking at attachment patterns can be very helpful in identifying root causes of adult relationship problems.
Working with Kids
Working with kids means working with caregivers, parents, families, couples, sometimes agencies and the legal system. While there are important exceptions, children make much better progress when they have the care and involvement of significant caregivers in therapy sessions. The younger the child (or children) in therapy, the more parent/caregiver involvement is needed. Teenagers may need (and demand) therapy without parental involvement, but young children often need their parents to be involved in therapy--to at least some degree. One of my therapist rules-of-thumb is summed up by the following: "Parents --or other caregivers--may not be part of the problem, but they are often part of the solution."
Sometimes important caregivers cannot be involved with therapy for legal or safety reasons, but this can be determined through individual case planning.
Specialized Experience
I have a great deal of experience with children and families who have experienced neglect, homelessness, and/or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. I have worked with many children who were involved with Child and Family Services, Youth Court, and who were transitioning from higher levels of care. I am willing to work with most acting out behaviors, including sexualized behaviors, aggression, and substance use (although I am not an addiction counselor and do not fill that role). I am also willing to work with most diagnoses. Foster and adoptive children--and their families--are a specialty. My background includes foster care and adoption licensing, as well as supporting these placements.
Treatment Frameworks
I use a client-centered approach in therapy. In cases where there is a trauma history, I often use techniques from Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Where there is evidence of developmental trauma, I often use an attachment focused therapy. Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Stages of Change Models influence my work with people who wish to change unproductive or damaging behaviors. I also have training in Emotionally Focused Therapy, Applied Behavioral Analysis, and Wraparound services.