My style is warm, engaging, and authentic.  I value the use of some humor.

I have a relational focus. It is our web of relationships that constitutes the ground of our being, our “home.”  It is also our relationships that cause so much of our pain. And, paradoxically, it is our relationships that we must turn to for our healing and our hope.  I believe that therapy is a special kind of relationship that is authentic and growth-fostering allowing clients to begin to represent themselves more fully and then bring more of themselves into their other relationships. Part of my work with clients often involves enhancing and expanding the ability to experience a connection with themselves, their partners and others.

I have a strong interest in the artistic and the creative life of the individual. The arts create symbols that reveal aspects of our outer and inner reality that can not be understood scientifically.

Eclectic Approach: Although my formative training was psychodynamic, in my twenty plus years of practice I’ve added many other approaches to my toolkit. I am EMDR certified and have significant training in trauma and body-centered approaches.  A significant portion of my practice is devoted to couples therapy; in this work I primarily draw on my training in Bader and Pearson’s Developmental Model of Couples Work.  I have a pastoral counseling background with a Masters of Divinity from Yale and an internship as a Chaplain at Bridgeport Hospital.  I have a yoga and meditation practice and have studied Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.  Much of my recent training is in the area of neuroscience, with a particular interest in the work of Bruce Perry, Stephen Porges (polyvagal theory) and Daniel Siegal. I’m continuing to add more cognitive behavioral approaches to my toolkit. I also draw from Jungian theory and have taken courses at the Boston Jungian Center and elsewhere. I am an active member in the Connecticut Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology and continue my learning in the field of psychodynamic psychology, as it is constantly evolving.

Compassion is central to my practice. As perfectionists in recovery, self-compassion doesn’t come naturally for many of us. We must cultivate it and build practices into our daily lives to strengthen it — learning to not take ourselves so seriously. Compassion is central to our healing and it is also front and center in my work with clients. In the words of Buddha “Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.”

The interdependence of the world is a central tenant of philosophical outlook. A person is of his or her world, natural and social. The world is part of our very being — as such, an understanding of that context and what it means to be human are inextricably linked. We can’t talk about one without the other. This also has implications for how I view human problems — I see them not as emanating solely from a pathological condition within a person, but as having meaning within complex relational and historical contexts.

• Smith College School for Social Work — M.S.W. 2001
• Yale University Divinity School — M.Div.  1997
• UCLA — BA 1992

• Private Practice since 2013.
• Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts –Student Counseling (part-time position) 2009-2012
• Yale University Student Health Services — Social Work Staff, Student Counseling Services – 2003-2005
• Substance Abuse Center, Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven – Research Coordinator – 1997-1999
• Yale University Student Health Services  — post-Masters fellow – 2001-2003
• Yale Child Study Center – Social Work Intern
• VA Connecticut Healthcare National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: West Haven, CT – Social Work Intern