Philosophy and Approach

Psychotherapy

The decision to begin psychotherapy can be difficult, but it’s a choice that can bring lasting benefits for many people. Working closely with clients, I strive to create a supportive space where insight into personal issues and challenging relationships can be developed. I believe that therapy works best when it helps individuals to better understand painful past experiences, increase their sense of freedom and choice in breaking away from old behaviors and patterns, and support them as they work towards increasing a sense of meaning and direction in their lives.

Although I tailor my therapeutic approach to each individual client, as a therapist I primarily draw on psychodynamic principles and techniques to address emotional and interpersonal concerns. During psychotherapy sessions, I work with clients to increase understanding of how prior experiences have shaped current beliefs and coping strategies. I help clients to uncover how certain hopes, worries, and motivations that may be outside of awareness are potentially affecting their everyday choices and behaviors. Finally, I believe that the therapeutic relationship itself can be used effectively to better understand experiences of self and others in relationships, and I encourage clients to explore how these experiences may at times interrupt their ability to form close and meaningful connections.

Psychological Assessment

While psychotherapy provides clients with an opportunity to better understand themselves and the problems that affect their daily lives over time, psychological testing allows problems that are more limited in scope to be assessed more objectively and in a shorter period of time. Psychological testing results can be used as a way to more clearly describe current functioning or areas of challenge; to confirm, refute, or modify an existing diagnosis or clinical formulation; to monitor change of symptoms or impairments over time; or to identify therapeutic or intervention needs, and highlight areas of strength or possible barriers to progress. By providing a detailed and nuanced perspective on complex cognitive or emotional problems, testing results have the potential to ensure that the best intervention approach is quickly  identified and implemented, increasing the likelihood of later positive outcomes.

I provide psychological testing to assess a wide range of clinical issues, including interpersonal/mood issues that may be affecting concentration or performance in work or academic settings; personality assessments to identify social impairments and potential barriers to treatment; and general testing to clarify diagnosis or clinical treatment concerns.