Counseling & Psychological Services

My theoretical orientation is psychodynamic with an interpersonal focus. I also rely on cognitive behavioral interventions. I believe that a client's distress and pathology impacts their ability to have supportive interpersonal relationships, and that the therapist/client relationship mirrors the client's struggles with others outside the therapeutic context. Therefore, I attend to therapist/client dynamics and my interventions include making this dynamic clear to the client. This includes providing a corrective emotional experience for the client by addressing dynamics in our relationship so that the client can generalize from this new experience and successfully adopt more adaptive responses with others. I do this by forming a strong therapeutic alliance, and then introduce working hypotheses to the client when trust has been firmly established. My interventions also include exploring cognitive distortions that may be exacerbating symptoms, and retraining in adaptive cognitions. I also explore family dynamics to assist the client in better understanding present day interactions with others. Hence, my overarching goals with clients are symptom reduction, assisting them with forming adapting coping strategies, and creating satisfying and supportive interpersonal relationships. I enjoy working with a wide range of clients. I am personally and professionally interested in working with clients from diverse backgrounds. I am also interested in working with parents and trauma survivors. My growing edge for clients is working with those who seek symptom relief, and are not interested in addressing their core issues.