About

I have been a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Florida since 1989. Having extensive experience in private practice, I have worked with a variety of clients, including teenagers, couples and the LGBTQ community. I also owned an IOP, an intensive outpatient patient program for drug addiction.

I love helping people! With a compassionate and direct approach, I guide clients to help them through challenges and struggles. I use Rational-Emotive therapy, identifying beliefs which no longer serve people and guide clients through a method to dispute those beliefs. I believe in the benefits of using the subconscious mind to help people with anxiety and trauma from their pasts. I guide clients through meditation and hypnotherapy to access a vast resource on a deeper level. This technique helps alleviate depression and anxiety and allows people to identify their own answers and solutions to their difficulties.

I normalize people's life experiences and believe that most people have challenges which can be overcome. Using a solution-focused approach, I help clients identify their strengths and times in life when they have been able to handle a difficult situation. This process is a valuable clue toward solving current problems. Although it is helpful to discuss the problems initially, my experience is that it is more beneficial to quickly move to solutions and identify exceptions to the problem - times when the problem did not exist or the client coped with a particular challenge.

I enjoy working with couples and use a model called Crucial Conversations to assist in communication skills, which is typically an issue for couples. I have experience working with teenagers in a school setting and I enjoy that population. I also have extensive experience with the LGBTQ community, working in a LGBTQ drug treatment center.

Connecting with an experienced therapist is an important step in resolving issues and concerns in a supportive and caring relationship. It helps people gain an objective perspective on their lives. I like to use the metaphor of a movie. You are in the movie - the therapist is in the audience with distance, perspective and objectivity. It helps to gain that perspective from the audience, the therapist, as you navigate your way through this world! I look forward to working with you!