Family Therapy

It is important to me that families gain the practical skills to make and maintain the changes they want to see. 

I describe my practice as community, wrap-around family therapy because I feel that changes to the entire family system are more productive, endure longer and are most supportive when as many people are involved as possible. This is important even when the initial concern is because a child is acting out/struggling and the rest of the family seems stable. 

Like in the old adage, "it takes a village," I also work to help parents create and maintain support systems for their children and themselves. I am trained in and enjoy providing community-based support, so on a case-by-case basis, I can provide collaboration with other clinicians, medical providers, school staff, or extended family and help develop a village to support you and your children. 

I often use a combined approach in family therapy; I may meet with just the adult(s)/parent(s) to help encourage important shifts to make home life function better. I also think it is important to help parents envision, establish and maintain their parenting role in the family so there is a hierarchy between adults, teens and children. Kids resist this at times, of course, but despite their resistance they really desire and need their parents to be in charge. I can help with this. I also provide parent coaching, couples work and practical, solution-focused guidance, as needed, throughout this process with me. 

When it is indicated, I can also meet with kids on their own to initiate a therapeutic relationship with them and understand things from their perspective. I then bring parents and kids together in family sessions where I help facilitate improved relationships and communication patterns among all family members. I am experienced in and enjoy working with a diverse description of "family" which includes: nuclear biological families, foster families, adoptive families, step-families, same sex families, extended families, etc, etc.  I welcome everyone into my practice.

My family sessions will possibly be the traditional 50 minutes in length, but at times with family therapy, the sessions may be scheduled for 80-90 minutes. I have found that longer sessions are necessary to be as inclusive as possible to everyone in the room.

Couples Work

Whoever said that love was easy must not have been in a relationship! Marriage and committed relationships are hard and it takes a lot of work to maintain a stable, lasting one. I work with couples to help them remember why they got together in the first place and to dust off their relationship.

Most relationships from time to time need a bit of brushing off and support around topics of communication, money, intimacy, conflict, parenting, fidelity, etc. I have enjoyed working with very diverse couples with equally complicated stories and issues.

Individual Therapy with Adults, Children and Adolescents

My initial training as a psychotherapist was in providing individual therapy. I have since expanded my practice to include family, couples and life coaching work too. There are times however when individual therapy may be indicated as a preferred treatment method.

For child or adolescent therapy, this may be offered when the child or adolescent prefers to develop a therapeutic relationship to work on personal issues that are best addressed in a 1:1 conversation. Type of treatment will be determined after I meet with the parent(s) and the child to talk about what the goals of treatment will be. If individual treatment is established, I likely will request to meet with the family periodically so I can stay in touch with how things are going in the family system and to coach parents to support the changes within their child or adolescent.

For adult individual therapy, I meet 1:1 to help provide guidance to sustain change.  I have worked with adults who feel “stuck” in their lives, are experiencing a period of loss or transition (including separation or divorce), have short or long term concerns that are barriers to their happiness, or are looking to create a stronger sense of themselves. I am described as a strong advocate, an active participant and a trusted confidant in therapy.