It’s heartbreaking when affection and love get eclipsed by conflicts, loss of trust, or a sense of alienation. During these times, it can feel as if we have lost our best friend, a person we thought we could always count on.

Taking the first step that will lead you to the relationship you want can be the most difficult. I have always felt tremendous admiration for those who value their relationship enough to face the challenges that are bound to arise in any committed relationship. It takes courage and the realization that our dream relationships don’t just happen – we have to learn how to make them happen.

I assist couples to build the relationships they want through strategies and communication. Each couple requires a special blend of approaches that I create from my broad experience as a licensed psychotherapist and a master-certified coach.  With the help of my intuition – which allows me to identify unspoken issues and strengths – we get great results quickly and effectively.

Couples — Relationship Skills Video

During their first session with me, one of the first things I always say to couples is you can either be right or you can be in a relationship, but you’re not going to be able to have both.

Fear and anxiety block and drain energy, but dissolve when they are viewed from a rational perspective. Let’s get you back to feeling great and have vitality and joy.

Anxiety is a natural reaction to stress. Fear and anxiety are survival mechanisms that alert us to danger. However, when an individual cannot distinguish between an actual threat and an imagined one, anxiety can turn into worry, dread, or fear, which ‌can lead to a painful state of feeling out of control.

Putting anxiety into perspective.

Whether you want to work on specific situations or your life in general, I guide you through a process that equips you to deal with stress in a positive and productive manner. I am very familiar with the progression from normal anxiety to feelings of helplessness and vulnerability and have gained and developed a wide range of tools for helping individuals eliminate destructive fears and anxieties.

Unlocking vitality and joy, unblocking the drain from fear and anxiety requires assistance to avoid common traps like:

• The unconscious use of coping mechanisms developed out of necessity in childhood, but which become counterproductive in adulthood.
• Anticipated “negative futures” created from bad memories, which become self-fulfilling prophecies that prevent living fully in the now.
• Using positive thinking, which tends to fail because it does not address unrecognized emotional states that are more powerful than thoughts.

Anxiety — Reduce You Anxiety Video

Learn how I help you reduce anxiety in the workplace by building balance in your life and helping you challenge your self-defeating behaviors.

“Grief is in two parts. The first is loss. The second is the remaking of life.” – Anne Rolphe

Loss is an emotional injury, real as any physical wound, and grief is the necessary, healthy, healing response to this injury.

The spectrum of loss can be hard to understand and often complicates the intensity and experience of grief.

The distress generated by loss can also be overpowering. From the loss of a favorite belonging to a beloved animal or human companion, to divorce, employment termination, natural disasters, home destruction, abandonment, or death, as a grief counselor, my intent is to assist you in remaking your life in a way that honors your loss and allows you to thrive.

The experience of grief is intensely personal.

The most important initial step I take when working with a grieving person is to spend time honoring and validating their sorrowful feelings. 

When the feelings of loss are most intense, questions often arise. 

For example, you may find yourself asking a lot of “what ifs.” Could the loss have been changed or avoided altogether “if” such-and-such had occurred, or another thing hadn’t?

“What ifs,” however, only create guilt and regret that complicate feelings of grief. Here are some other questions you may find arising for you:

• Will this pain ever end?
• Are antidepressants a solution?
• Is forgetting an answer?
• Is there any meaning in loss?

Different types of death/loss may complicate a griever’s experience. What’s most useful during times of intense grief is for the griever to have the support that helps bear what’s happening. We work together to find practical tools that you can use to deal with phenomena such as sudden grief bursts, deep yearning, and anniversary echoes. We’ll also look at ways of releasing the guilt you may feel about laughing and having fun.