Individuals seek out counseling for many reasons. Therapy can help you to remove the barriers that are standing in the way of being happy. I use a conversational style of counseling that allows you to be your natural self. In my practice, I utilize a variety of therapeutic strategies including cognitive behavioral, solution-focused, humanistic, and system focused. Together we will focus on the reasons you sought out counseling so then we can begin to engage and conquer the struggles you are facing, while creating a path towards the future you are longing for.

• Depression – Sleep disruption, irritability, sadness, and hopelessness, are signs that you may be struggling with depression.
• Anxiety - Worries, fears, loss of productivity and self-confidence, problems with attention and concentration all take a toll on productivity, relationships, and the ability to enjoy simple pleasures.
• Career Counseling- Therapy can help you identify your values, abilities, and skills that would help determine your potential for happiness in given work environments
• Relationship issues – If you are upset by conflict with your spouse or partner, recovering from the devastation of a breakup, or just can’t seem to find the “right” relationship, counseling can help.
• Grief- Bereavement, loss and sadness can be immobilizing. Counseling can help.

Are you and your partner facing some significant issues in your relationship? Do they seem too important to wait to address? Does it feel like if you don’t get some help quickly, it will be too late? For many couples, counseling seems like a waste of time while they are dealing with hurt and betrayal in the relationship because the situation seems hopeless and overwhelming. In reality, this is the time to partner with a Marriage and Family Therapist to heal your relationship. Issues: Marriage and Couples Counseling Here are typical issues that marriage counseling can help you and a spouse or partner cope with:

1. Marital enrichment
2. Loss of sexual desire
3. Affairs
4. Threats of divorce
5. Communication struggles
6. Different parenting styles
7. Lack of emotional intimacy
8. Overspending vs. hoarding of money
9. Drug and alcohol abuse
10. Second marriage issues

What if your partner refuses to attend counseling sessions? You can go by yourself. If one spouse is willing to change their behavior and method of communicating, this can change the relational pattern and the reactions of their spouse. For example, if a spouse who has attempted to control, his partner becomes less controlling his spouse may react by being more willing to compromise. Usually after several sessions with one spouse the partner agrees to come in.

As the former State Director for the National Stillbirth Society, I understand how important counseling is to the healing process. Counseling can help with the traumatic experience of pregnancy loss or Infertility.

• Are you feeling overwhelmed and sad after experiencing a miscarriage or still birth?
• Have you been given the diagnosis of infertility and exploring the idea of adoption?
• Are you devastated due to losing a baby late in pregnancy?
• Did you have a failed embryo transfer that felt like you lost your baby?

Losing a baby at any point during pregnancy can be a physically and emotionally devastating experience. It can feel like your whole world has fallen apart. You are not alone. You may feel like you have lost a part of yourself, Your dreams and hopes for the future have been shattered. Although miscarriage is a fairly common experience, it doesn’t make it any easier. Few people understand what it feels like to lose a baby in pregnancy. After a miscarriage or still birth you may feel:

• shock; you can’t believe what happened
• numb; unable to feel anything
• sad and depressed; perhaps sudden bouts of crying
• angry at your own body, your doctor, your partner, etc.
• guilty: feeling that somehow you have brought the miscarriage or still birth on
• anxious or afraid that it will happen again
• yearning and aching for your baby envious of other pregnant woman
• overwhelmed with your grief

While grieving, you may feel physically and emotionally exhausted and unable to get anything done. You may feel like you are out of tune with the rest of the world, like you are living in a haze. The worst of all you may feel that it will never end. If you have experienced still birth your grief may be even greater. Studies indicate that women who have had a pregnancy loss are up to three times more likely to experience depression.

Therapy can successfully reduce sadness, depression and anxiety and help you resolve your grief more quickly.

Benefits of counseling:

• ease the pain of your loss, and help you heal faster
• gain control over your emotions
• prepare you for situations that may remind you of your baby and that may hurt you (e.g., your due date, a visit to the hospital, your first period, or anniversary of the miscarriage or still birth)
• discover how to communicate with your partner and support each other through this troubled time
• ensure that your relationship survives by overcoming gender differences in grieving and improve your relationship with your partner
• feel good about yourself again
• regain confidence to experience another pregnancy

Family counseling works to strengthen the family unit through utilizing the inherent strength of the relationships to resolve conflicts impacting the family’s level of functioning and help them to assume individual responsibility for the problems. Individuals and their families who are experiencing a wide range of issues including depression, substance abuse and relationship problems can benefit from a family therapy approach. As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I have been thoroughly trained and educated to assess and effectively treat psychological conditions and poorly functioning families. Which family members attend family counseling sessions will depend on the unique needs, and circumstances and may include all or only some members as well as individual sessions. I strive to help the family in understanding more clearly how their family functions and in what ways the family system is contributing to relationship conflicts and individual physical or psychological illness. Families learn alternate strategies for handling problems and developing more positive interactions. When family counseling is initiated due to the behavior or illness of a specific member, as the therapist I can work with other members to better understand the individual’s condition, how it impacts the family as a whole, and in what ways their own behaviors may have contributed to maintaining the problem. There are many reasons that families seek therapy. Sometimes there is…

1. A specific problem to be solved (which school does my child attend next year?)
2. A pattern to be changed (communication, family cohesion, playing together, etc.)
3. A dynamic to be restructured (power dynamics in the family are off, someone is sick, behavior problems are hijacking the family)
4. An issue to be processed (trauma, affairs, emotions, hurt, loss, etc.)

Sometimes families need to learn a skill and other times they need someone to walk with them and help to mediate conflict and communication. I can meet with families for short term needs as well as longer term solutions.

I love helping a couple get their marriage started off on the right path! Wedding planning can be hectic, but we know that the time before you get married is a strategic point to get to know your partner more deeply and make sure that you have the right tools in your toolbox for your marriage. My Approach I have specific training in working with couples who are in love, in conflict, or in distress. We use the Prepare/Enrich assessment to help couples identify their relationship strengths and weaknesses and tailor a unique plan for pre-marriage counseling that will address their specific needs. We believe equipping you with the skills and resources you need is one of the most important things that we can do before you get married to help keep the spark in your relationship. The Skills Each couple is unique, so during the pre-marriage sessions we will cover topics in varying detail, depending on the needs of the couple. Topics will include: Relationship stages, Creating a relationship vision, Communication, Conflict Resolution, Maintaining positive daily interactions and connecting, Finances, Cultivating Intimacy and Sex, Children and Parenting, and Interactions with Extended Family. Weekly – Typically 6, 50-minute sessions. I know that trying to coordinate two busy schedules while planning a wedding and managing life can be challenging! I will work with you to try to find a time that works best for both schedules.

Raising children can be both incredibly challenging and extremely rewarding. Unlike prior generations, families today are scattered across the globe. The network of community is frequently weakened or lost through relationship separation, divorce, relocation, job demands and other changes. A child’s learning experience and effort to cope suffer due to this weakened support network. The result may manifest as a conflict in family relationships, lowered self-esteem, and academic underachievement. The role of a parent is further complicated when a child receives a mental health diagnosis or manifests a behavior issue. Yet, it is only when parents become part of the solution that behavior can improve for their child and healing can begin. Parents must nurture, discipline and inspire by keeping children safe and encouraging them to explore their unique potentials. Parents are the agents of change.

Counseling can help you and your teen weather the challenges of this vulnerable time, and prompt help is often the key.

Common problems include:

1. Isolation – while many teens are moody, a pattern of moodiness, isolation, and anger is a warning sign
2. Autism Spectrum Disorder- helping teens navigate the complexities of communication and learn healthy Social Skills
3. Anxiety – teens experience a range of stresses (school, social acceptance, self-esteem are just a few)
4. Self-harm – actions such as “cutting” (non-suicidal self-injury) are alarming, and prompt, professional attention can help your teen learn more effective coping skills.
5. Cell phones, social media, and bullying –more reasons that for your teen, “It’s complicated.”

I offer emotional support pets services