For Adults

“LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU WHILE YOU ARE BUSY MAKING OTHER PLANS”

John Lennon

   Life is filled with transitions and challenges even without the presence of a pandemic. These cannot be avoided nor would you want them to be. If you consistently avoided them, you probably would not be living your life to the fullest. However, sometimes all of us are faced with challenges and changes that seem insurmountable, or, at best, confusing. You may try to enlist the help of friends and family, but they know you well, and they may have strong opinions about what you should do and how or when you should do it. You may or may not want the advice, but you’d rather work through the issue, transition, challenge, dilemma, or problem (call it what you like) with someone who is objective, who must maintain confidentiality and who has no personal stake in your decisions. This is where I come in.

   While I have the title of “doctor”, I do not view the people I work with as patients. They are clients who are fellow human beings trying to figure out how to improve their lives, how to make wise decisions and how to feel competent every day. My philosophy is that most of us are trying to do the best we can, but sometimes we are faced with overwhelming and unexpected events that derail us.

   No one plans on becoming ill, homesick, nervous, depressed, or overanxious. No one plans to feel confused about their sexual identity, to experience divorce after being happily wed, or to still be grieving a deceased loved one so intensely a year after the death. In our society, people want you to take a pill and move on, but our psyches do not work that way. There is a process that must take place for us to change and to adjust in a positive way.

   My approach to working with you is to help you define what is causing you to be unhappy or not feeling like yourself.  Sometimes you may engage in behavior that upsets you or is destructive, but it has helped you cope up to a point. Then you begin to realize that you need better solutions. In some ways, my approach is to act as an investigator with you to discover what you are feeling, when and where you feel this way, why you feel discomfort and how we can change your belief system about that which you are feeling and experiencing. Having some insight about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors enables you to become self-reflective and to begin to implement positive change.