You are a unique and stunningly complex person full of gifts and potential. My approach to therapy rests on this belief.

As your therapist, I’m committed to your individual growth and independence. We begin with a thorough assessment of your personality — an experience that most of my clients enjoy. Our work together is designed to enhance your confidence to make the life changes that support your desires and best interests. In addition, I can help facilitate the development of your own personal spirituality, which is based on what has purpose and meaning for you.

Sometimes my clients come to me with emotional pain from the past or personal problems that are particularly challenging. Therapy is a great setting to move through these challenges.

I believe in honoring our psyche’s or body’s innate wisdom about how to catalyze the healing process. Sometimes what looks and feels like pain and suffering is really a beautiful and necessary part of our transformational change process.

People — all people — need to be listened to deeply and supported and challenged through their recovery from life’s hurts. All people have the potential for transformational change. As a therapist, it’s my deep intention and honor to create a refuge where it’s safe to explore the incredible range of possibilities open to each human being which is why I also provide children’s therapy.

Positive Psychotherapy takes different pathways and can address a host of issues, concerns, and questions you may have, including:

Who am I? What am I good at? Where do I excel? What is my life’s purpose? How can I make my life more meaningful?

These are life’s big questions that every human being wrestles with. Positive Psychotherapy provides a framework for understanding the self and creating a more satisfying life.

Since 2003, I’ve used an empirical assessment tool with my interested clients called the VIA Character Strengths Survey. VIA stands for Virtues in Action. Pioneered by Dr. Martin Seligman in 1998, this tool is based in the Science of Positive Psychology. VIA is designed to identify and describe a person’s five Signature Character Strengths, measured on a scale of 24 Character Strengths. Your Signature Character Strengths define you at your core in a wholly positive manner. This tool can greatly assist you to identify and create a life and work that you love.

How can I can cope with loss and grief?

Loss and grief are natural seasons of life, and moving through them can be a great challenge. This emotional work can often be complicated when we abort, delay, or avoid our natural grieving process. I have a background in Hospice work and have helped many people through the grieving process. I help my clients find their way to and through a healthy grieving process, learn and practice healthy grieving techniques, and clear “unfinished business” which may interfere with their everyday quality of life. It is possible to heal and experience joy again.

How can I heal from my abusive past or a traumatic experience?

Recovering from abuse and trauma is a journey. My training in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing provided a strong foundation for me to work with survivors of abuse and trauma. A large percentage of my practice is devoted to assisting these clients, and helping them to make connections between what they experienced in the past and what’s happening in their lives today. Abuse and trauma survivors can gain new understanding and insights into themselves and their life’s path, empowering them to make healthy choices, change unhealthy patterns of behavior, reclaim their core selves, and deeply value who they can become in the present.

What does it mean to be an empowered woman? How can I love and value myself more as a woman?

My work with women is centered in assisting them toward personal empowerment. This begins with the deep work of discovering their self worth, discarding any lies absorbed from original messages (commonly held false beliefs include “not mattering” or “not being good enough”), and replacing these beliefs with the truth: that every woman is inwardly and outwardly exquisite and perfectly unique. By restoring healthy self-valuation, women no longer feel compelled to “give themselves away” or otherwise disavow themselves. The goal is for women to operate in the world from a place of truth and self-empowerment.

How can I better manage my stress? How can I take better care of myself?

Pursuing wellness and managing stress are not pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all solutions. Together, our work will be to find wellness tools that suit your unique personality and individualized lifestyle, always honoring what is so for you. We have a wide range of clinical and spiritual approaches to draw from in creating your stress management and wellness plan. The overall result is for each client to come to know herself as the best resource for elegant healing choices for self-care.

How can I define a spirituality that works for me?

Often my clients are interested in pursuing spirituality in a more personalized way than they may have in the past. Together, we explore this desire for a deeper discovery of their own spirituality. One of my greatest privileges as a therapist is to hold the space for this sacred, sensitive, and mutually enriching work.

How can I change patterns in my life? How can I create the changes I want?

Personal growth and development is the cornerstone of my work with clients. As human beings, the goals we desire to achieve lead us into pathways of personal development and invite us to change. You don’t have to be deeply troubled in order to desire significant change in your life (although sometimes this is the case). You may be seeking greater life satisfaction and happiness. You may want to learn to love well and to be loved completely for who you are. The focus of this type of therapy is to set the client on a path toward authentic love, authentic intimacy, and authentic happiness.

How can I improve my marriage, my romantic relationship, or other significant relationships?

Satisfying intimate relationships are all about communication skills. Many of my clients present relationships that are troubled or stressed due to communication issues, which most often stem from a need to develop the skills to deeply listen, not simply “hear” audibly. In addition to working on listening skills, we also foster the possibility of understanding one another better and validating the other, which can lead to enhanced problem solving and decision-making. Most of all, developing communication skills creates an opening for authentic intimacy and behaviors of positive regard to grow. Fully developed communication skills can enhance and restore relationships between life partners, parents, children, friends, colleagues, and employers. The time and intention to learn these skills for one relationship can transfer over into most relationships in life.

Interested in talking more about positive psychotherapy?

Call or email me today to start the conversation.

Some insurance providers may reimburse all or some portion of psychotherapy fees. Click here for an easy guide to insurance reimbursement.