I work with my clients on a broad range of issues, five of which are listed below. I also help my clients with such concerns as personal growth, substance abuse, divorce adjustment, and sexuality.
Coping with Anxiety
I see anxiety as static energy in need of a vehicle. You and I will form an alliance as we set about examining that unused energy. We will look for ways to harness the anxiety as power for future rewards in your life. Of course we look for the origins of that unused energy, partly for understanding and partly to find clues for use. We will search for traces of unrealized passions, passions that can surge forward when coupled with this new power source, a power source that has seemed useless and even destructive. If a medication evaluation seems wise, I can refer you, for that portion of your healing, to one of several trusted psychiatric colleagues.
Couples Therapy
Married or not, coupling is difficult, and, at the same time, potentially rewarding to the max. Oh how sweet it can be to lie in the arms of a trusted soulmate with all those wonderful senses engaged, the warmth of the skin, those smells, the little sighs. But our personality traits coupled with lifeʼs stressors, such as child-rearing or career pressures, can obscure or muffle those exquisite rewards. We will explore the relationship and decide on new behaviors that you can adopt so that those rewards are once again obtainable. The fact that Iʼve been working with couples and well-married myself for 40 plus years canʼt hurt.
Depression Therapy
Depression can be seen as sadness gone bad. Sadness is as necessary as happiness for us humans. However, sometimes sadness slides into a rut making it seem permanent and leaving us feeling hopeless and immobile. Sometimes an endless loop of negativity goes round and round in our heads. We must find a way to keep from going in circles. We must find a path out of the forest. For some people, medication can be a minor or major part of that process. I refer to several trusted psychiatrists for medication evaluations when the patient and I think this is warranted. Depression is not a death sentence, but it can surely feel like one. My job is to walk with you through that dark forest and to help you search for a path out of the gloom and doom.
Grief is the Price of Love
Grief is more than sadness. The soul is adjusting to an event akin to an earthquake. Another soul has drifted away or suddenly disappeared. Sometimes this process is simple, but it’s never easy. Sometimes this process is complicated by the fact that the relationship was troubled for years before the departure. Grief is finite, but unpredictable in length. It comes in waves, and sometimes those waves seem insurmountable and interminable. I will help you honor your emotional tides while beginning to turn your energy toward the future.
Pre-marital Counseling
Deciding to couple for life is a major life-changing event warranting some scrutiny, especially if you get stuck in a negative place. Becoming a committed couple has tremendous potential. Marriage is a process of building a complex structure. It’s good to build on a firm foundation. In pre-marital counseling we examine the foundation that is being constructed and discuss the possibilities for improvements. I will challenge both partners to unilaterally and cooperatively act to make those improvements. I will encourage you to value and nourish your new love so the structure you build can reward you for decades to come.