•     Whether concerned about emotional, behavioral, spiritual, relationship, educational, or vocational issues, my intention is to assist you and your family in finding useful solutions to the challenges you face.

•     My belief is that life’s problems can also be opportunities for growth and learning.  My commitment is to do the best I can in working with you or your family to turn your challenges into learning and growth.

•    Often problems can be resolved within a few meetings, however some challenges take more time than others to resolve.  I will help you address your concerns as rapidly as possible while remaining committed to providing you with personalized, quality assistance, regardless of how long it takes.

•     Your feedback will be essential to our successful collaboration.  It will be important for me to know how you think our work together is progressing in order to be most helpful to you.  If at any point you have questions, concerns, or suggestions, let's talk at our first opportunity.  I may also ask you to complete several short rating scales to make certain we are heading in a direction that looks useful to both of us.

"Are your services confidential?"

  •   I am both legally and ethically obligated to only release information about clients (e.g. diagnosis, clinical records, progress notes, etc.) with their knowledge and written permission.  This is true whether filing insurance claims or with other types of requests for access to confidential records.  In addition, even if permission is given, one can revoke permission to release information at any time. 

  •   The only exceptions to my obligation to protect a client's confidentiality is if I am ordered by the court to disclose confidential  information, if someone has become a threat to the safety of themselves or others, or other situations involving legal action.

•  Morning, afternoon and early evening appointments are generally available.  Obviously, some appointment times will be more in demand than others, so availability is scheduled on a “first come, first served basis”.

 •  Often our first meeting can be arranged within several weeks of making the initial call to inquire about our working together, unless my schedule is particularly full.

•     Evidence Based Practice, Empirically Based Therapy, and Evidence Informed Practice (among other terms) are a major focus in today's service delivery world.  I definitely believe that it is important to incorporate what research has to tell us about what works in psychotherapy, since  addressing the wide range of difficulties related to the human experience is very complex.  I make a concerted effort to stay abreast of current research, as well as to sort through the often contradictory research findings.  I do this to refine and expand my approaches in accord with what the advances in neuroscience, medicine, sociology, psychology, education and other disciplines tell us works in helping people learn, grow, and heal.  Here are several synopses of a number of psychotherapy outcome studies that are both current and have stood the test of time, and as a result inform my practice.   I also believe that skillful psychotherapy involves subtleties related to the art as well as the science of professional helping, which research says boils down to being truly client centered.  

"How can I make the most of my sessions?"

        In general, ask yourself what you'd like to be different in your life as a result of coming to therapy.

        More specifically, prepare for each meeting by considering which of your concerns or goals you'd like help with during that meeting and discuss this with me at the start of each meeting.

• If you’d like a useful discussion about what to expect from therapy and how to get the most out of therapy, this link will take you to an easily readable New York Times article, To Reap Psychotherapy's Benefit, Get a Good Fit.