MA, PhD, MHC-LP
Therapist
As humans, our own minds can be our strongest source of power, our greatest mystery, or our biggest enemy–often all at once. Your mind sometimes feels like “you”, sometimes only a part of you, and sometimes not you at all. Therapy helps you explore, accept, understand, challenge and learn to work with your own thoughts, feelings and habits. We can collaborate to help you manage the power of your unique mind to get unstuck and move forward in life.
My own mind led me from my childhood in Atlanta “up north” (as my family said), first to a B.A. from Yale University, and then a move to Manhattan. A year after I arrived I became a New Yorker, and I knew I would never live anywhere else.
Passionate curiosity about the human mind inspired me throughout a 20-year career in psychological research and educational psychology. I did lab work, published and presented numerous scientific papers, designed software, and helped start and run an experimental K-8 school. Along the way I earned a PhD in Behavior Analysis from Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) in Norway. Finally I decided it was time to go beyond research and focus on helping human beings through clinical work. After volunteering as a Crisis Counselor at the Crisis Text Line, I went back to school to earn my Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling at The City College of New York.
My therapeutic style is based on nonjudgmental curiosity and warmth above all. My clients are the experts on their own lives, and together we can build a relationship that facilitates growth. I draw primarily from cognitive-behavioral therapies such as ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy), as well as present-focused methods such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), but I believe that a therapist should be open-minded and interactive. The best theory is whatever works for you.
Along with working with individuals, I also work with couples, focusing on supporting them as they work together to build the “we” of their relationship, and giving them the skills they can use to resolve conflict.
In my spare time, I am often meditating (very imperfectly), reading (fantasy or sci fi especially), taking long walks around the city, or embroidering or cross-stitching something in front of the TV.
