My Training and Education

In 1997, I received my PhD in Clinical Psychology from Northwestern University where I was trained in the use of Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioral therapies with adults and adolescents. My post graduate training includes EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Ego State, and Gottman therapies. I draw on all of these psychological approaches to best address the needs and preferences of each client.

I also draw upon other types of training including over a decade of teaching yoga and meditation, allowing me to offer mindfulness, meditation, and breathing techniques as therapeutic tools. If you are seeking help with any stage of divorce, my training as a divorce mediator will be helpful in understanding and navigating the process you are going through.

Who I Work With

I work with people who have had a history of trauma and family of origin wounds, people navigating divorce and post-divorce relationships, and people experiencing anxiety or depression which may be connected to these experiences or other life events and transitions. I also work with mothers and fathers on the difficult job of raising children, from infancy through young adulthood, in all types of family configurations. And I help people in other types of familial relationships as well, such as siblings, or adult children and their parents.

My Approach to Therapy

I know that life is hard and messy. You are not broken or failing and I promise you, you are not alone in feeling like you are struggling or stumbling. Like everyone else, you are human and for most of us humans, romantic relationships, family dynamics, parenting, transitions and change are challenging, even overwhelming at times.

Many of us, even those of us with the most loving and caring parents, were not given all of the emotional and psychological tools we needed to handle everything life throws our way. Many of us were directly or indirectly taught things by family or by culture that were detrimental, things we need to unlearn in order to thrive. Some of us were raised in families and communities that caused outright damage and we need to heal from that.

Together we will take a compassionate and curious look at your life and see how you got here. We will discover all the wisdom, creativity, useful tools and skills you possess and strengthen them. We will find the thoughts, ideas, memories, and perspectives you bring with you that make life harder, and work together to help you let those go.

And what about those nagging symptoms or “bad” habits and behaviors that you want to get rid of? I believe they must serve a purpose or you wouldn’t hold on to them. Often, what we call symptoms are behaviors that have been the only solution to a problem that you could find. For example, if a person was mistreated by someone close to them as a child, their symptom might be that they push people away and sabotage relationships, which while frustrating on the surface, is actually keeping them safe from the mistreatment they have learned to fear during childhood. They may not even be conscious of this fear or the protection against it. We will explore and work to understand what is underlying your symptoms with curiosity and compassion, not judgment. We won’t yank away your existing symptoms/defenses/protections, but rather do the work to understand why they are there, what protective purpose they serve, and help you feel safe again, so the protection is no longer needed. When we do that, the symptoms slip away on their own, because you are ready to safely let them go.