I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) who works with individuals, couples, and families; and maintains a private practice in Bryn Mawr, PA
With over 20 years' experience, I received my Masters Degree from The George Washington University, and my post-graduate clinical certification from Council for Relationships. Before entering private practice I was a senior staff therapist at Council for Relationships for over ten years. At Council for Relationships I maintained a full-time clinical caseload, supervised clinical interns, and taught the live supervision class for the intern training program.
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 emotional and/or physical distance. In today's busy culture it is very common for partners to feel like roommates who might be collaborating well over raising children, running a household, and tending to their respective jobs -- but who are missing the close friendship and intimacy that once drew them to one another. Couples sessions involve some combination of relationship enhancement, communication and conflict resolution skills, family of origin exploration, and/or sex therapy.
I also see couples dealing the aftermath of an infidelity disclosure or discovery.. 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. 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 or any current relationship issues so you can be free to experience life more confidently and contentedly -- with an increased openness to new experiences.
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.
License and Certifications
- Pennsylvania Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) License
- AAMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy) Clinical
Member
- AAMFT-Approved Supervisor