My clients are people who aim to accomplish a feat that typically only trees and flowers are thought to do:  grow in two directions at once.

 

Good therapy is not about mental illness.  It is about mental accessibility, personal vitality, and emotional integrity.  It is about the intention to live well - to seed a life which opens to the sky with abandon, while at the same time it burrows, ever more carefully, into the soil of ones deepest knowing. 

 

In my perfect world, access to an affordable, therapeutic relationship is listed in the U.S. Constitution as an inalienable right.  Everyone would have the support of someone who is there specifically to help them find and maintain communication with their inner-most selves. 

 

 

I graduated from California State University-Sacramento in 1998 with a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.  I had begun my mid-life journey, four years earlier, with the intention of becoming a career counselor.  I was drawn to the idea of helping people make sense of their options, so they could better make sense of their lives.  But something happened on the way to graduation.  I career counseled myself and chose to become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, instead.  The idea of helping people make sense of their lives, so they could better make sense of their options, appealed to me more.

 

 

No one theory of mental health satisfies the complexity of our multi-layered lives.  Inasmuch as I am a general practitioner, my practice is eclectic.  I lean towards an object relations bias (a model which holds that our sense of who we are is based largely on our earliest relationships with caregivers), but this bias is diluted by the conviction that, regardless of our formative experience, life itself can be maddening. 

 

I see individuals, couples, parents and grandparents - anyone over the age of seventeen.  Though my practice is not issue-based, areas of special concern have emerged over time.  See my Notes of Interest page for more information.

 

Anyone who would like to explore therapy is encouraged to call, or make an appointment to meet with me.  I typically see clients on a weekly basis, but as life throws each of us different curves, I am happy to follow your lead. 

 

I am also available for consultation.  Unlike therapy, a consultation appointment is a one-time exchange.  It is intended to give you the opportunity to touch base with someone outside your immediate world.  Sometimes a relatively unbiased ear is all one needs.

 

I am available for early morning appointments (6-9 a.m.) as well as for typical therapy office hours - days and early evenings.  I invite you to call with your questions.