My View of My Practice
What I see
I believe that whatever may be most challenging or troubling to you, it neither determines your psychological identity nor does it define the whole of you. Thereby, my primary perception of you and the entirety of the life you bring to therapy is unobstructed by rigid diagnostic formulations; instead, it is directed solely by interest, attunement, and a desire to be of help. I avoid a mindset of certitude, and I abstain from the kind of clinical authority that derives from assigning concrete categories and convenient labels to widely diverse and multi-dimensioned psychological challenges – the difficulties and conflicts within each person’s heart and mind.
Alien to my work is any clinical perspective that regards human dilemmas and suffering primarily within the narrow binary framework of “disorder-illness” vs. “normalcy-health” – so often sustained and underscored by elaborate terminology and complex taxonomies. Likewise, I find one-dimensional diagnostic labels frivolous when, as is commonly the case, they are summoned as if they were – in and of themselves – capable of illuminating the complex dimensions of psychological reality present in every individual’s life.
Your place in our work
When you are troubled, distressed, or in crisis; when you feel unable to move beyond a difficult or painful situation and toward solutions: then you have likely arrived at an important fork in your life’s path – an opportunity for a hopeful new direction. In working with you to seek and implement solutions, my view is a loving one: I neither view you as fundamentally diminished by your problems, nor as separate from any other capable and whole person who may not be seeking and receiving professional help.
Instead, I regard the totality of the experience you bring to our work – the external and internal; that which belongs to your past, your present and your anticipated future – as elements of a life fully connected to the common ground of our human experience. This diverse and complex territory is the sole location of my work with you: a place we all share, in which we sometimes struggle, and in which I fully include myself.
THE FRAME OF OUR WORK TOGETHER
Whatever the concerns and stressors that may be present in your life; whatever the emotional discomfort they may engender, your difficulties cannot and do not define you psychologically, nor do they diminish the whole of your identity. Instead, they have provided an opportunity for you to seek and accept help. I therefore regard the problems that you confront – acute as they may be – as indispensable guideposts to the positive outcomes of my helping relationship to you.
OUR FOCUS
I focus on each client's experience of Self, of his/her sense of ide ntity and place in the world, and on the subjective reality it has engendered. Within this framework my clients and I together seek fuller, truly beneficial insight into the meaning and direction of a life’s story.
I view the Self as the central, indispensable psychological resource of my work: It is the realm in which all individuals’ feelings and thoughts take on depth and meaning, in which motivations are sorted out, and behaviors determined. Thereby, the primary focus of my engagement with the whole of my clients is the exploration and discovery of just how the Self's complex dimensions operate distinctly within each individual’s life.
I view the Self as the central, indispensable psychological resource of my work: It is the realm in which all individuals’ feelings and thoughts take on depth and meaning, in which motivations are sorted out, and behaviors determined. Thereby, the primary focus of my engagement with the whole of my clients is the exploration and discovery of just how the Self's complex dimensions operate distinctly within each individual’s life.
As my clients acquire a fuller, more coherent understanding of the formation and workings of their experience of being themselves, they achieve something well beyond concrete knowledge: They come to an increased emotional security and equilibrium within themselves, in their relationships with others, and in all of their life endeavors.
MY METHOD
While intent listening is the cornerstone of my working method, I am not a blank screen or a mute, detached sounding board for clients’ thoughts and communications. Moreover, in those areas that call for direct counsel, I can and do provide it. Ours is a fully engaged conversation, in which I am constantly attuned to each individual’s temperament, distinct history, internal reality and personality.
My work recognizes and cultivates each client’s innate resources: It channels them into a collaborative exploration of his/her subjective universe, its roots in original family experience and its evolution within the social environment. This endeavor yields a much-enriched consciousness, coherent self-awareness, and above all, greater self-acceptance: These are the enduring building blocks of a living resolution of persistent dilemmas, of release from chronic distress and the opening of broader, more fulfilling options for living.
My work recognizes and cultivates each client’s innate resources: It channels them into a collaborative exploration of his/her subjective universe, its roots in original family experience and its evolution within the social environment. This endeavor yields a much-enriched consciousness, coherent self-awareness, and above all, greater self-acceptance: These are the enduring building blocks of a living resolution of persistent dilemmas, of release from chronic distress and the opening of broader, more fulfilling options for living.
THE FRAME OF OUR WORK TOGETHER
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Whatever the concerns and stressors that may be present in your life; whatever the emotional discomfort they may engender, your difficulties cannot and do not define you psychologically, nor do they diminish the whole of your identity. Instead, they have provided an opportunity for you to seek and accept help. I therefore regard the problems that you confront – acute as they may be – as indispensable guideposts to the positive outcomes of my helping relationship to you.
OUR FOCUS
(Click to Read More)
I focus on each client's experience of Self, the multi-layered realm of subjective reality, of an individual's sense of identity and place in the world. Within this framework my clients and I together seek fuller, truly beneficial insight into the meaning and direction of each life’s story.
I view the Self as the central, indispensable psychological resource of my work: It is the realm in which all individuals’ feelings and thoughts take on depth and meaning, in which motivations are sorted out, and behaviors determined. Thereby, an essential goal of my treatment of the whole person is to develop of a fuller, coherent understanding of the Self's many, distinct dimensions present within each person’s life.
As my clients acquire a deeper understanding of the formation and workings of their experience of being themselves, they achieve increased emotional security and equilibrium, both within themselves and in their relationships with others.
I view the Self as the central, indispensable psychological resource of my work: It is the realm in which all individuals’ feelings and thoughts take on depth and meaning, in which motivations are sorted out, and behaviors determined. Thereby, an essential goal of my treatment of the whole person is to develop of a fuller, coherent understanding of the Self's many, distinct dimensions present within each person’s life.
As my clients acquire a deeper understanding of the formation and workings of their experience of being themselves, they achieve increased emotional security and equilibrium, both within themselves and in their relationships with others.
MY METHOD
(Click to Read More)
While intent listening is the cornerstone of my working method, I am not a blank screen or a mute, detached sounding board for clients’ thoughts and communications. Moreover, in those moments that direct counsel is required, I can and do provide it. Ours is a fully engaged conversation, in which I am constantly attuned to each individual’s distinct history, internal reality and personality.
My work recognizes and cultivates each client’s innate resources: It channels them into a collaborative exploration of his/her subjective universe, its roots in original family experience and its evolution within the social environment. This endeavor yields a much-enriched consciousness, coherent self-awareness, and above all, greater self-acceptance: These are the enduring building blocks of a living resolution of persistent dilemmas, of release from chronic distress, and the opening of broader, more fulfilling options for living.
My work recognizes and cultivates each client’s innate resources: It channels them into a collaborative exploration of his/her subjective universe, its roots in original family experience and its evolution within the social environment. This endeavor yields a much-enriched consciousness, coherent self-awareness, and above all, greater self-acceptance: These are the enduring building blocks of a living resolution of persistent dilemmas, of release from chronic distress, and the opening of broader, more fulfilling options for living.
A Challenging Paradox
In the course of therapy we often observe that among the most distinct features of a person’s character and personality are those that reflect adaptations once necessary to cope with painful early life circumstances. Within this quite universal phenomenon we are sometimes confronted by a problematical truth: It is that certain features still present in an individual’s core adult identity and outward personality – including those which they (and others) most value and cherish – can also prove to be the most problematic to that person, and in that person’s relations with others.
In order to resolve the persistent dilemmas arising from this paradox, each of us confronts an ongoing challenge, which is to seek and sustain a quality of self-awareness that is fully inclusive, balanced and compassionate.
The Dimensions of Our Work
I consider my clients’ subjective experience a key resource with unlimited potential to impart depth and direction to our work. Such wealth is never enhanced by compression into preexisting clinical templates and taxonomies of calculated design.
I am entirely comfortable with the challenging presence of ambiguity and mystery in therapy: It is a natural component of the depth and complexity of each client’s psychological life – of his/her unique sense of being. I find that a willingness to embrace uncertainty is often the key to my clients’ self-rediscovery, to their release from chronic pain, and to lasting positive changes in their lives.
FAQ's
Through our collaborative work in therapy, I can guide you to
a more beneficial understanding of yourself and how you have lived.
I can lead you to a greater awareness, acceptance and appreciation of your essence;
to a better fit within your present life, and
toward a more hopeful future.
Here are some of your Frequently Asked Questions:
WHAT IS YOUR FEE?
My fee is $200 per session. I provide sessions of one hour.
DO YOU TAKE INSURANCE?
I’m not an in-network provider for any private insurance plan. However, as a clinician licensed to practice psychotherapy in the State of New York, the fee for my service may be to some extent reimbursed by those health insurance plans that honor claims for treatment with an out-of-network provider. The “R” appended to my Licensed Clinical Social Worker license (LCSW-R) is accorded to clinicians with a considerable number of years and supervised hours in practice. It denotes that my services are fully eligible for reimbursement, though within and up to the limits specified by any given health insurance plan.
WHAT KIND OF THERAPY DO YOU PRACTICE? WHAT IS THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR YOUR CLINICAL APPROACH?
I practice talk therapy. Within this very broad framework, my approach can be specifically described as psychodynamic and insight oriented. It recognizes that a trusting relationship with a therapist can permit key psychological threads within the life experience of an individual in treatment to emerge in a more fully dimensioned and meaningful way. This kind of work, in which present concerns and challenges are commonly explored within the context of lived history, seeks to bring the cumulative whole of one’s life experience to a fuller and more coherent awareness. Such a conscientious collaboration with a therapist can ultimately yield deeply enriched consciousness of the whole of oneself and with it, a more secure sense of Self in relation to others, and of place and direction in the world. It can provide a firmer foundation for the resolution of persistent dilemmas, and for broader and more gratifying options for living.
My clinical perspective incorporates the theoretical contributions of diverse, yet related schools of thought that together comprise the “relational psychoanalytic” orientation. From a point around the mid-twentieth century, this body of theory has proposed and firmly established a significant rethinking of Freud’s original understanding of the formulation and development of the Self, of the role of the unconscious mind, and of the prevailing dynamics that shape and guide individuals’ experience of themselves and others. Object Relations (British) and Self Psychology are among the better-known and influential schools that comprised the foundation of a continuing legacy of relational psychoanalytic theory and practice.
The relational psychoanalytic perspective recognizes that an individual’s psychological development and his/her current feelings and perceptions are all shaped by continuous interaction with the social environment. Therefore, the perspectives of Family Systems Theory are also indispensable to my clinical approach. This parallel tradition focuses on revealing the structure and dynamics of an individual’s family history across generations to better appreciate the impact of past and present original family relationships on each individual’s subjective experience and interaction with others.
With all this said, I emphasize that I do not practice psychoanalysis – a clinical methodology traditionally founded upon a Freudian theoretical orientation. Moreover, my intellectual foundation serves primarily as an abstract backdrop which can guide my engagement with clients: Though I am an intent listener, I am never just a silent sounding board. I reflect with my clients on any and all matters, and in terms familiar to them; I introduce perspectives and ideas within a fully-engaged conversation, and I participate in the formulation of solutions and in working toward decisions. At times I do provide direct counsel.
HOW LONG WILL THERAPY TAKE?
I have no single, generally accurate answer to this question, as my practice of psychotherapy provides for persons who have distinct individual needs and expectations, and who present a broad range of psychological difficulties and challenging life situations. For example, I can and do work with persons who seek direct counsel or expedient solutions for difficult situations which they consider strictly of the moment and short-term. I have also established many longer-term working relationships with my clients.
Although I can’t provide a single definitive answer to the question of how long therapy will last, I do recognize that clients have basic and quite valid concerns about the length of the process: Psychotherapy in any form requires of the client a commitment of valuable resources of time and money; this carries an expectation of receiving real benefit. I therefore welcome any and all feedback from my clients about how things are going for them in our work – about its value to them. I encourage their collaboration in best utilizing our time, in setting agendas and in directing or redirecting the focus of our attention according to their needs. I encourage those I work with to freely communicate their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with what we are doing.
Above all: I emphasize to all my clients that they must never feel “trapped” in the process of psychotherapy; that they must feel entirely free to end our work when it feels right to them, and to consider that such an ending leaves entirely open the option of a future renewal of our therapeutic relationship if and when they choose.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN THERAPY AND WORKED THROUGH YOUR OWN ISSUES? DO YOU HAVE A CLINICAL SUPERVISOR OR A PROFESSIONAL COLLEAGUE WITH WHOM YOU CONSULT?