I work with artists, lawyers, musicians, academics—students and professionals of all kinds who choose to advance their work into personal growth. My specialty is helping people recognize and maximize their power. However, my specialty does not remain in me; it emerges again and again in collaboration as I help clients realize their full potential.

How do I do that? I am highly trained to detect things that are hard to know about ourselves alone. In our joint efforts, I work very hard to understand the stories clients operate within. We are often surprised to hear our limiting beliefs reflected back to us; surprised, but relieved. Once we begin to name those stories, clients usually recognize how familiar they seem without having known them consciously before. It’s exciting to verbalize what part of us—our unconscious mind—knew all along.

Once we begin to identify the narrative of the unconscious, we’ll continue to build upon it. Some shifts occur right away; others emerge throughout our work together. The better we get to know each other, the easier it is to understand how one story relates to the next.

That is the part of the work I am most passionate about. When we piece together the aspects that have been holding us back, our true self emerges. We can only parse our authentic selves once we identify and release the false aspects we’ve created in response to our imperfect environments.

Why do we create these false aspects? Usually, just to survive. Somewhere along the line (beginning in infancy), we learned to adapt to our environments in order to get what we most needed—love, food, attention, praise, emotional safety. Perhaps even protection from violence. Each one of us creates these false aspects without knowing it—in order to please our caregivers, minimize risk, and maximize our chances of survival.

I usually find that some part of the work involves cultivating a healthy relationship with anger and aggression, or other shadowy parts we forget are essential to being ourselves. Healthy aggression is a key component to maintaining healthy boundaries; it means we are able to respond with courage and help generate health and boundaries for everyone. Not fighting, attacking, or being mean, but allowing our natural strength to flow through us, and feeling liberated (enough) to not settle for subpar outcomes. We can only get what we truly need if we make peace with our personal power—essential to living our best selves in the world. When we access our strongest, best self, only then can we fully offer the world the unique combination of qualities only we can bring.

theory and orientation

I bring many tools to my trade. My style is warm, embodied, and active. The foundation of my training is contemporary psychoanalysis. That means that we’re working together to understand the unconscious process alive inside. Sometimes it is most helpful to work analytically, to understand how your past has shaped you and to draw out the unconscious beliefs you’ve developed about yourself and your potential. Unlike traditional psychoanalysis, we will work to build this understanding together in order to ensure that conclusions we draw feel helpful to you, and to continue building a strong working relationship together.

I also use more active coaching techniques in my work, to help get you unstuck and to explore different ways of approaching things. Clients have found this to be an effective way to problem-solve and feel like we’re doing something beyond asking questions and making interpretations.

Across my entire craft, I practice attachment-based work. That means we work together to understand your particular style of relating to yourself and to your other relationships. I work hard to create a safe relationship with you, and to understand how our relationship impacts you and how it is similar (or not) to your style of relating to others.

Additional tools I bring include mindfulness—understanding what you are experiencing right now—and somatic work—working to understand how and where emotions live inside. Studies show that when we tune into the present moment—our thoughts, our feelings, bodies and breath—that we have tremendous power to reduce stress and anxiety. Over time this has a measurable impact on the nervous system.

other areas of specialty

• trauma
• boundaries
• anger and aggression
• anxiety, depression and melancholia
• men’s issues
• narcissism and self worth
• custody and family issues
• step parent relationships
• romantic relationships
• transitions—career, spiritual, midlife
• dream work
• symbols and imagery
• mood regulation
• sexual orientation
• gender identity
• mania & bipolar
• regional issues – culture shock, difficulties adjusting to new a new regions and cultures
• multiculturalism – multi-ethnic, multi-racial identification
• body image and mindful eating
• addiction and mindfulness