I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over a decade of experience working with individuals, couples, and families in therapy. I obtained my Master's Degree at Purdue University Northwest in Indiana, and then moved to New York to begin practicing professionally. I completed training in all three levels of Gottman Method Couples Therapy, as well as other courses for working with mood disorders, traumas, and other means of couples therapy. I have worked in both clinical and private practice settings, and I have been working throughout the past two years via telehealth sessions.

I make sure that all my time with clients feels genuine and personable. I find it a lot easier, and frankly more fun, when you can enjoy talking with your therapist, and the mental health work can be more of a conversation than a chore. I work hard to make sure I can meet the needs of all clients, and that the environment in therapy is entirely safe and nonjudgmental. I am well aware that I am another white male in this world, and I take the responsibility of understanding my biases and validating the experiences of others very seriously. My job is to meet my clients where they are and treat their perspectives as the most important voices in therapy.

I wanted to be a therapist for a while growing up, and I mainly thought of working in couples therapy. I find the pursuit of helping any two people to better understand one another fascinating, and I truly enjoy the experience of supporting repair when couples are in pain. Beyond my foundational education in couples therapy in my graduate program, I first pursued training in Gottman Method Couples therapy. John and Julie Gottman and The Gottman Institute have spent decades developing an evidence-based practice for couples therapy, which mainly targets communication issues in the relationship. I have found that most couples benefit from working on improving their ways of communicating, as the rest of the issues are going to need a solid communication foundation to proceed healthily.

My methods of therapy vary depending on the needs of each couple. I often use emotion-focused couples therapy techniques for creating more empathy and trust, or deeper explorations into each partner’s familial or relationship histories in order to understand deeper behavioral and emotional connections. I commonly work with couples to discuss a variety of topics, including daily connections, co-parenting, trust, sex, and more. I’m also happy to help couples in crisis navigate next steps for working in couples or individual therapy (more on that here), or how to begin repairing after a major injury to trust and connection.

In addition to my work with couples, I work with individuals in therapy on a wide spectrum of goals and topics. Therapy can be the space of direct and meaningful change, or just an open forum to explore thought and perception of yourself and the world. I have specific training in different forms of cognitive behavioral therapy and other therapy methods that are helpful for mood disorders, such as depression, anxiety, or anger. While most people seek therapy services for their immediate issues, it is important to explore the root causes of some behaviors or perceptions, as their impact is likely beyond the one problem at hand. I often find exploration into past familial or significant relationships also helps to better explore patterned behavior and thought that sustains mood disorders.

I also have experience working with full or partial families in therapy. Often this is a space of working on goals of family functioning, where there is a balance of co-parenting skills and behavioral modifications for children, but all happening with an increase in emotional and functional communication throughout the whole family. Collaboration with other therapists can be essential to the success of family therapy, especially if the family is in a state of crisis. For many cases, I suggest working with a family therapist for everyone to work together, and also some mix of either couples therapy for the parents, or individual therapy for different family members as needed. Everyone needs their own space to talk and feel understood, but coming together to combine all of these perspectives and needs at once is a delicate process.

One thing to take away from all of this is that I have put a lot of thought into how I work as a therapist. I love to do my job, and I also like to think about and improve upon how I do this work. There are myriad important factors related to feeling cared for that completely depend on how I show up as a therapist, and how I structure the processes of my practice. I aim to be thoughtful about how I exist as a therapist, and how I conduct my work with all of my clients. I need to understand their stories and lives, and understand how to be most helpful. I sincerely enjoy being a therapist and putting this much thought into how I can be helpful and effective in this role.