Three decades ago, I began a full-time private practice, after having worked at a large social service agency, supervising graduate students, as well as teaching social work at a local community college. Over the years, my interests and areas of expertise have always included the challenges in adjusting to life’s transitions and losses. I value helping clients understand the complexity in their lives, the relational conflicts that are inevitable, and finding ways to notice and appreciate their strengths.
My clients are eighteen years and older, and I work with individuals and couples experiencing a myriad of issues, including anxiety and depression. I work extensively with adults who are grieving the death of someone close, accompanying them on that grief journey that is life-altering and sometimes isolating. Grappling with the loss of someone close can change the entire trajectory of life, and I offer a collaborative and supportive approach, sometimes alternative perspectives, and appropriate resources.
I also have a recognized expertise in couples’ work: issues in marriage, separation, divorce, and infidelity. Couples' conflicts can be scary and confusing for sure, but having a comfortable place in which to explore them can quiet doubts and help figure out a healthy path for everyone. Being
comfortable with the intensity that this work entails has helped my clients appreciate the intensity that is part of all of our most important relationships.
My style is direct and “to the point”, as my clients will attest! I also use warmth, some humor, and sometimes “a respectful bit of sass”, to help sit with the pain that can sometimes be present in a counseling session. In short, I love my work and love discovering the way to my client’s inner self, in order to offer safety, curiosity, and compassion.
In addition to my clinical practice, I have been a clinical founder and director of several week-long, grief camp programs around the country, for children ages 8-18, who have experienced the death of a parent or sibling.
Being part of such an astonishingly transformative experience has
not only changed the lives of campers and staff, but mine as well. I am perhaps most content sitting by a lake or a campfire, singing soulful or silly songs or gobbling down a messy s’more.