Marriage & Family Clinic

MY JOURNEY After finishing my education with a Master of Divinity Degree and joining the American Association for Marriage in Family Therapy; I worked with Families and Children for 8 years with Child Protective Services before going into Private Practice in the mid 90's. and becoming licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist. Along the way, I started narrowing my practice to Adults and Relationship related issues. I chose to join the legion of scientist practitioners who were developing scientifically-based methods I received and continue to participate in specific training in 3 main schools of relationship building and repair with: MY TRAINING 1 -The Gottman Institute for Relationships (couples therapy to build on 7 key principles - from disarming conflicting arguments to building in rituals to deeper friendship and working partnerships). 2 -Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (an approach that builds on research that shows teamwork and romantic love are based on an building and keeping attachment bond . If we can develop our “love sense” we increase our ability to develop long-lasting relationships). 3-Pragmatic/Experiential Therapy (an approach which translates new knowledge about how the brain processes emotion into practical methods for improving relationships and increasing personal success). My Style I tend to be both direct and directive. I am direct in the sense that I’m not going to beat around the bush. I will tell you hard things to hear when needed. Unfortunately, at times I make mistaking in my delivery and overlook the need to have a well-established sense of connection with someone I am working with - leaving them angry and disappointed. I regret every one of those times I failed to help someone and have always been committed to learning from my mistakes. Life is very humbling at times. I encourage everyone to bring those times up with me. When I catch my mistake or they point it out to me, we are able to use it as an opportunity to go back and uncover what was missed and apply the tools to get back into a place of collaboration. At times, the gap is too big. I missed something important or I hit a sensitive spot and triggered too much guilt/shame and they pull back to protective themselves from the frustration of pushing forward. We might just not be collaborative match and they search out a better match or they are not ready yet. I believe we have all been in that place.