Coaching Services

Confidentiality is crucial to creating an atmosphere conducive to the feelings of trust and safety necessary in effective therapeutic relationships.  What’s said in session is very sensitive and personal, and you have my assurance it is kept in confidence.  Sometimes, however; it might be important that I contact someone in your healthcare team.  Or perhaps you might want to bring a family member or friend in for a collaborative session.  Under those circumstances I would require your written permission prior to making contact, and we would also discuss in advance the degree of disclosure you would feel comfortable with me making. There are a few situations when state and federal law require that I break confidentiality:  

• Suspected past or present abuse or neglect of children currently under the age of 18, dependent adults, and elders.
• If I have reason to suspect the client is seriously in danger of harming him/herself or has threatened to harm another specific person.
• If I receive a subpoena from the court or FBI for my client notes.

That is a very difficult situation, and I have compassion for this tough spot. I do offer some sliding scale slots, but if insurance is a must, then perhaps a low-fee agency would better fit your budget, if you willing to give up some proficiency. Therapy is making a major commitment toward your own self-care, the success of your blended family and your relationship or marriage. It should not be taken casually.  Nor should this be another source of stress in your life.

Weekly sessions are best, in the beginning, to build a relationship of trust and safety and gain momentum with self-reflection, and positive change.  In my professional experience, I’ve noticed that clients who come every week to therapy gain progress and momentum whereas clients that come every-other week rarely get off of the ground toward solving any issues. The work doesn’t go as deep, and the sense of safety in the therapeutic alliance doesn’t grow as strong.  Sometimes clients drop out of therapy because they are not receiving the gain they had hoped they would. You get out of therapy what you put into it. Taking it seriously will only aid you in helping make it a success.

Therapy is different with each client because each client is different.  Your goals will be unique to you, as will our therapeutic relationship. Common discussions can touch on:

• What brings you to therapy
• What you’re hoping to gain from therapy
• What’s going on in your current life, and how your history has led to your present. 
• With relationships we’ll discuss attachment patterns and also assess past attachments and patterns.
• We will also keep track of changes that occur from session to session.
• Discernment Counseling is different from therapy – for information click here.

Therapy can be short-term or longer-term depending on the issue at hand. Life decisions and transitions tend to be more short-term, while things like negative thought patterns, in-grained parenting patterns, reactive behaviors that have occurred over your lifetime will take longer to sort through. 

When you’re at your wits end and don’t know where to turn, rather than giving up on your dreams and decreasing your goals and expectations, what about putting more effort into making things better? Putting in more effort, becoming educated on your relationship, personal patterns of relating and how life’s struggles affect your decisions can take some of the complication out of the situations. You’ll have a place to express burdens and strategize choices that will help move you toward your goals. An objective therapeutic opinion can aid you when facing major decisions, life transitions (remarriage, considering a move, change of job, children’s changing perceptions and parenting challenges).  If you’re ready for something to change in your life, therapy can help you streamline your decision making to achieve goals faster and more easily.

I do not take insurance, but can provide you with a superbill to turn into your insurance.

Yes, I am. I am accepting couples and individuals as part of couples or needing help with relationship issues.

If you’re reading this its likely you need support. Good therapy doesn’t have to always take a long time depending on the issue at hand. Better questions to consider are:

• Do I have a specific issue I’m having trouble resolving?
• Would I feel happier in gaining self-awareness, an objective perspective and a potential new direction to being feeling “stuck.”
• Are your fights about the same issues?
• Would you feel less trapped if there was more understanding of the struggles your marriage is facing?
• Would you be happier if you could learn skills that would help you in your relationships inside the home and outside the home?
• Are you part of a couple and you need help understanding your relationship and why it’s not working?
• Are anxiety and worry negatively affecting your relationship?
• Is your anger or your spouses’ anger negatively affecting your relationship?

Taking the responsibility and making the decision to reach out for help is a positive first step towards change.  It shows a commitment to your own health, and a willingness to move forward in your life..

My practice is completely focused on working with couples and blended families. I’m part of a blended family and know firsthand the challenging dynamics. This niche focus allows me to have expertise and to develop a comprehensive set of tools to help you reach the goals for your family and marriage. I also have received advanced training on marriage counseling at the Master’s level and have sought out extensive trainings with blended families and couples’ work.

Many counselors have a wider variety of clients and approach marriage counseling as more of a mediator between who is right and who is wrong. Many couples counselors also get tripped up in not knowing what’s normal for blended families and the different dynamics that come with being part of a blended family.

Practicing through Emotionally Focused Therapy allows me to get to the heart of the issues and skip the repetitive content fights. Emotionally Focused Therapy is very structured allowing each client the opportunity to have their say and feel heard and validated in a safe environment.