I am happy that you have come to my webpage; and I look forward to hearing from you if the description of my practice matches your needs. 

A licensed marriage and family therapist, I have many years' experience working with couples, families, and individuals. Particular clinical areas of interest and expertise include: couples work in the area of communication skills and relationship enhancement, infidelity/affairs, parenting issues, divorce counseling, co-parenting, stepfamilies, sex therapy, depression, anxiety, and EMDR/trauma resolution

When relationships are going well, they can be a source of tremendous well-being and happiness. However, when challenged by communication issues, conflict resolution difficulties, or simply an inability to effectively address gripes or unmet needs with partners, children, co-workers, etc., relationships often become a source of significant emotional distress. My many years of  helping clients work through relationship issues of all kinds have brought healing and renewed well-being to many.

An experienced public speaker, I have been invited to conduct workshops and give presentations throughout the area, and regularly speak on couple communication skills, adolescent parenting skills, and parenting skills for younger children at schools, churches, and parenting groups. I have developed and lead an adolescent parenting workshop entitled, "Your Changing Teen -- Getting Through the Challenges Together."

A significant portion of my client caseload is devoted to couples dealing with the aftermath of an infidelity disclosure and divorce counseling. This multi-layered work involves providing support and guidance as each partner grapples with determining their level of commitment to the relationship going forwards, as the injured partner addresses and works through his/her almost-certain post-traumatic stress, as details of the affair that the injured partner needs disclosed in order to gain mastery over what happened are shared and reacted to, and as the unfaithful partner processes his/her often competing emotions -- usually including some combination of shame, guilt, anxiety, anger,  worry, and confusion. Day-to-day issues involving how each partner will relate to and interact with the other provide another important therapy focus. And if both partners ultimately re-commit to one another, relationship issues that interfered with the couple feeling connected and satisfied -- and provided the distressed context in which the unfaithful partner unfortunately chose infidelity -- are addressed and worked through. 

Individual difficulties such as low self-esteem, chronic worry, and unresolved trauma are another area of my clinical interest and expertise. Trained in both Level I and Level II EMDR, I can integrate this powerful processing modality into therapy with a variety of issues including depression, anxiety, and trauma.
 
While we all experience anger, fear, shame, worry, and sadness at times, it is the long-standing, unresolved nature of these negative emotions that causes debilitating distress and limits our sense of well-being. In a comfortable and emotionally safe environment, I will help you identify, work through, and resolve old, stale emotional struggles and/or any current relationship issues so you can be free to experience life more confidently and contentedly -- with an increased openness to all of its potential.

If you are seeking guidance working through a new or long-standing emotional issue, help with relational distress -- or you are simply ready to explore new possibilities in your life, I look forward to working with you. And if you are unsure about counseling, feel free to ask for an initial appointment to determine if it feels right for you.

Please contact me for more information or to make an appointment.