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My technique balances insight, active collaboration and positive exploration. I help clients to create practices that affect real change in the present. Insight, understanding, intention and hope for change are good places to start, but they are only the first steps. The next steps are related to changing thoughts, addressing core emotional schemas or working at a visceral level that addresses our patterns through emotional-physiological means. Whatever combination of techniques, I believe that change requires practical explorations of new thought, emotion and behavior patterns.
Ongoing Integration
In service of formulating of new perspectives, possibilities and actions, I often give between-session assignments or exercises. I see the times between or after sessions as particularly effective times for integration of what one learns in sessions. Many treatments involve isolated one hour experiences with little thought or emotion devoted to them outside of that hour. Like other forms of learning, developing new perspective and abilities requires attention and reinforcement.
Positive Growth
I see life’s difficulties as challenges that aid in furthering growth and depth. Growth always requires some degree of instability. One of my principal goals in therapy is to go beyond simply reducing negative experiences to helping to transform confusion, anxiety and rumination into growth.
I have pursued training in a number of psychology modalities because I have wanted as many tools as possible to work with each individual or couple. I’ve trained and worked in a number of contexts and with a range of issues including depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, trauma, chronic pain, and relationship challenges and growth. I also work with issues of creating a substantive, meaningful life within the distractions of modernity.
Technique
My practice integrates techniques including psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, Buddhist and mindfulness forms. In addition I researched, developed and now practice a method integrating verbal therapy with light and sound technologies to influence brainwaves and foster receptive states of consciousness for deep and effective perceptual-emotional change and growth (see LIGHT|SOUND for more information).
