Finding Your Way Through
Warm, Reflective & Collaborative Psychotherapy
"I am a licensed psychologist with over twenty years of experience helping people navigate life's most challenging transitions. I aim for warmth, depth, & genuineness. I think of therapy as two or more people, mutually respectful, leaning in, listening, & speaking to that which is most vital and alive."
About Me
Who Am I
I have a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver, Graduate School of Professional Psychology. I provide therapy to people of all ages. I have a special interest in working with adults on issues related to quality of life, relationships, parenting & stage of life transitions. I have expertise in couples therapy & I have a great deal of experience helping men engage effectively in the therapeutic process.
"Every life contains difficulties for which we are not prepared. Life does feel overwhelming sometimes & the solutions hard to find."
How I Work
My Approach
Initially, my role is to create a warm, non-judgmental environment where you feel understood & free to explore your thoughts and feelings. Together, we come up with the goals that are most important to you. Because I am dedicated to helping my clients achieve the outcomes they desire, I believe it's important to monitor our progress from session to session. I seek out your feedback right away so to find out if I need to change something about my approach so that we are working together effectively. From the first session to the last, your voice & your perspective is essential in the therapeutic process. If you are interested in seeking additional support from other helping professionals to complement your work with me, I maintain a network of trustworthy & highly trained professionals who are effective in their respective domains, including neuro-psychological assessment, business or financial coaching, pre-marital therapy, or psilocybin-assisted therapy.
"The aim is not to fix you — it is to help you become more fully yourself."
Philosophy
Sandcastles & Psychotherapy
You can learn a lot about a person by watching the way they build a sandcastle. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said: The first person will proceed hesitantly, focusing on construction, fretting all the while about the inevitable return of the waves. The second person won't even start building — why bother, the tide will only destroy it. The third person embraces the unavoidable & throws themself into that work regardless, joyful but not oblivious.
My philosophy is that we're all three people at once. Depending on our circumstances, one may rise to the surface, but often these different aspects of ourselves leave us confused & feeling stuck. The aim of the psychotherapy I practice is to develop emotional intelligence, which can help us reconcile the different aspects of who we are. I see the outcome of effective psychotherapy as greater emotional maturity, which means the capacity to be in multiple contexts at once, able to see ourself as the fluid, flexible, & often contradictory human beings we are.
"We can think of psychotherapy as a safe space that allows you to hold the disparate, contradictory aspects of yourself in mind without getting drawn into an anxious & controlling stance toward one side of yourself or the other."
Growth
Life Transitions
One way to view life is we are all wandering down a path & we inevitably come to a series of suspension bridges. Some look shakier than others. Once we take a few steps out, we find ourselves suddenly feeling ungrounded, less secure, strung up between two places, residing neither here nor there. One aim of psychotherapy is to find creative ways of approaching change by asking particular kinds of questions that help us live more embodied, finding stability within the instability.
"Significant life transitions can be terrifying, but they can also clear the way for moments of clarity, creativity, & joy. That's what we will aim for together."
Other aims: to help you feel more at ease, parent effectively, connect with family members, be more comfortable with intimacy, to feel stronger, more vital, more creative, & above all, to be more yourself.
Background
My Credentials
"Above all, I believe healing happens in relationship."
- Former executive director of Parenting After Divorce, a non-profit organization that provides education to parents who are divorcing or legally separating
- Former adjunct faculty member, University of Denver, Graduate School of Professional Psychology
- Former Clinical Supervisor, University of Colorado, GSPP
- Former adjunct Faculty member, University of Colorado, Health Science Center
- Specialized training in couples and family therapy from the Gottman Institute in Seattle, WA & the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, CA
- I am a former athlete, having played ice hockey for twenty-three years. When not at work I enjoy reading, writing, backpacking, traveling with my wife, & playing with my dog, Smokey. This photo was taken by my wife in Kanazawa, Japan. The other photos were taken in Portugal and New Zealand.
A calm, private space in Denver's City Park neighborhood designed to help you feel at ease from the moment you arrive.
My Hourly Rate:
I generally bill $175 per fifty minute hour, which is prorated for longer, seventy-five minute couples & family therapy appointments. For those who seek to be reimbursed through their insurance, I can provide you with a superbill. In cases of financial hardship, based on annual income, I reserve space in my practice to offer therapy pro bono or at a significantly reduced rate. I look forward to lending you a hand!
Feel free to reach out to me for a phone consultation.