MY APPROACH
Research has shown that the therapeutic relationship can rewire the brain. I’m a relational therapist, I believe that change happens through the relationship I build with my clients. I strive to create a safe and trusting environment, providing a space for clients to allow themselves to feel comfortable and open to the therapeutic process.
When working with adolescent boys, my overarching goal is to help them improve their self-awareness, self-control, and self-esteem. I want clients to take the knowledge and insight gained from our sessions with them into the world, improving their relationships and improving their lives.
I’m flexible and adaptive with my approach to counseling, drawing from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Person-Centered Therapy, Humanistic Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Mindfulness. I take a collaborative approach with clients, working together to make the most of our time.
CBT is an evidence-based approach which has proven that how we think, affects how we feel, which affects how we behave. We can change our mood by changing our thoughts, but this requires becoming more present and self-aware to first notice our thoughts, then we can decide which thoughts we choose to acknowledge and which thoughts we choose to ignore.
MY EXPERIENCE
My first job in the field was as a group leader at an adolescent psychiatric hospital, where patients were admitted for self-harm and attempted suicide. I led the boys groups and found the work to be both challenging and rewarding. I continued working with adolescent boys in schools, residential facilities and outpatient clinics, and now specialize in working with adolescent boys in my private practice. More detailed information on my experience in the field can be found on my LinkedIn profile here.
While I don’t provide counseling for adolescent girls, I have some excellent referrals listed here.
Workshops I’ve attended:
• The Biology of Depression: How Stress Affects the Brain and the Body w/Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD (2009)
• Staying in the Now: Maintaining Mental Health Through Mindfulness w/Stuart Eisendrath, MD (2009)
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Children & Adolescents w/Connie Callahan, PhD (2009)
• Sleep: How Much Do You Really Need? w/Allison Harvey, PhD (2009)
• Healing & Transformation w/Jack Kornfield, PhD & Dan Siegel, MD (2010)
• Mindfulness, Healing & The Neurobiology of Love w/Jack Kornfield, PhD & Dan Siegel, MD (2011)
• The Art of Existential Humanistic Psychotherapy w/Bob Edelstein, LMFT (2012)
• Music Therapy for Mental Health & Wellness w/Sha’ari Garfinkle, LCSW (2012)
• Trauma, Loss & Love: The Impact of Trauma & The Process of Healing w/Bruce Perry, MD (2013)
• Too Cool to Play? Creative Interventions for Adolescents w/Scott Riviere, LPC (2015)
• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction w/Diane Renz, LPC (2016)
• Autism: CBT and DBT Interventions to Improve Cognition and Challenging Behaviors w/Abbe Colodny, LPC (2016)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques for Everyday Clinical Practice w/Amy Van Arsdale, PhD (2017)
• Changing the ADHD Brain: Moving Beyond Medication w/Jeff Tarrant, PhD (2017)
• Oppositional, Defiant & Disruptive Children & Adolescents w/Scott D. Walls, LIPC (2018)
• Helping Teens: How to blend compassion and effectiveness with a population that may or may not want our help w/Yshai Boussi, LPC & Howard Hiton, LPC (2019)
• Calming an Overactive Brain w/William J. Sieber, PhD (2019)