About
Therapy
So let me begin…
It takes courage to delve into the attic and explore all those hidden crevices that make up who you are. You look at and explore those life experiences that can help explain why you think and feel the way you do, but most importantly, why you do the things you do.
Most of my clients come to see me because they’re in a lot of emotional pain. Life has been problematic when it’s supposed to have been pleasurable.
That feeling of heaviness prevails throughout the day. Sometimes it begins when you wake up, making you think, “I don’t want to get out of bed and face the day.” The constant worry, protecting yourself from the people who care most about you, and worst of all, feeling isolated and alone are no way to live.
You and I will look at changing some old behaviors that may have worked for you as a child but have now gotten you in trouble with your significant other, family, friends, and coworkers as an adult.
We’ll explore how to communicate and make yourself accessible to feel heard and acknowledged in individual or couple’s sessions.
In the process, you will be seen and touched emotionally by that person most important to you.
About Me
Graduate school provided hands-on experience.
While supporting my family, I graduated in 1990 with a Master of Science degree in Counseling Education from San Diego State University. The program I attended was said to be the best clinical program on the West Coast, and my Professor, Jim Carnevale, was a Godsend, a wonderful mentor and psychotherapist.
Seven other students and I were chosen from our graduating class to head the Taft Project working with those families who had a child struggling academically in middle school. The program itself was a statistical success. By healing the family dynamic, the struggling child thrived and grew academically.
Helping people is a joyful experience.
I’ve been in the field of psychology since 1980. My career started by working with adolescents in psychiatric hospitals and treatment centers and as a clinical supervisor for a 66-bed group home facility for adolescents, supervising five interns.
In 1998, I started working with adults as a licensed clinical therapist. I should have retired by now, but I love what I do! To have purpose is a wonderful thing!
I love to feel that joy when I see the light go on for a person who’s been struggling, and they get it. I mean, truly get it to where it leads them to make the necessary changes in their lives!
Seeing a couple reconnect deeply with one another to where conflict becomes a means to deep emotional intimacy is a beautiful experience.
Effectiveness in therapy requires training.
My love for working with family systems motivated me to receive training in Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples (EFT). I attended a weeklong externship with the founder, Sue Johnson, Ph.D., and later worked with her right-hand man, Scott Wooley, Ph.D., in group supervision for the next five years.
Another coworker and I headed the EFT group for couples at Kaiser Permanente for many years. There were only a few groups like it in the country.
My other love is helping people with anxiety and trauma through several techniques. I received training in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) during the 90s. In 2016, I received training in Mindfulness.
When not working…
My wife and I live in a more rural setting in the foothills of San Diego. We board our horses, Snowboot and Rocky, at a ranch that butts up against Cleveland National Forest. One of our favorite pleasures is riding the horses for miles in the most beautiful country one can imagine! There are vistas of mountains that simply take your breath away!
My other love is our dogs, Ranger, a 15-month-old long-haired German Shepherd; Khaleesi (named after the dragon queen in the Game of Thrones), our little girl who is now eight years old; and of course, little snugly Duncan, our English Cocker Spaniel who is three years old. Duncan lives to eat and be loved, whereas the shepherds think that retrieving a ball at our local dog park is their idea of heaven!
