EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALS

After close to two decades in another field (see below), I have now been a Marriage and Family Therapist for over a decade (License: PA MF000932). I completed my Master’s degree in Couple and Family Therapy (MFT) with departmental honors at Thomas Jefferson University in 2014, and was trained and supervised in Sex Therapy at Council for Relationships and PhIIRST. At Jefferson, I focused on Medical Family Therapy and served as a course liaison in the university’s widely respected inter-professional Health Mentors Program. I’ve also trained as a hospice volunteer, and have a personal background in mindfulness/meditation.

HOW I WORK

I begin each therapeutic relationship in a spirit of collaboration and an environment of non-judgment and confidentiality. Together, we’ll work to determine the areas in which you feel stuck, uncover what’s holding you back, and work through the fundamental, sometimes difficult emotional processes of being human: grieving what may have been lost, negotiating uncertain paths, reinforcing inherent strengths and abilities, and embracing new possibilities.

As an MFT, I work systemically — which means I consider my clients’ lives and the problems you present in therapy through a biopsychosocial lens, taking into account your body, your mind, and your relationships (family, friends, and romantic), and how all of those things affect each other. (I am a Health at Every Size practitioner, so when I say “your body”, I am primarily referring to your nervous system; if you want to discuss your body size, I’ll do so to understand the ways you move through the world and how you relate to your own and others’ bodies, not to “fix” your body.)

My work with you will be big on negotiating those always-tough tensions between connection and autonomy, and between logic and emotion.

Within that framework, I work with my clients to tailor therapy to your needs. Primarily, I lean toward work on insight and making space for you to feel truly seen — understanding how you got to where you are, and integrating that awareness into a process of envisioning and navigating a path toward where you want to be. Additionally, I use tools and interventions from Family Systems Theory, Internal Family Systems, mindfulness and psychodynamic/relational practices, Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), and other attachment-based and empirically sound models.

WHOM I WORK WITH

I work with clients who are in monogamous, non-monogamous, “monogamish”, and polyamorous relationships, or no romantic or sexual relationships at all, without prejudice. I’m happy to talk more about my philosophy in this regard; get in touch! I’m also a Queer-affirming and trans-affirming therapist, versed in the experiences of multi-racial, multi-cultural, first and second-generation individuals, couples, and families. Mixedness is something close to my heart and person, and I am delighted to work with those who have had challenges with claiming identities.

PRIOR CAREER

I became a therapist out of a deep love and respect for the field; I believe good therapy changes lives in ways that can reverberate through generations and communities. I absolutely cherish my job today, and that leaves me with a deep well of energy and attention to devote to my clients.

At 50 years old I’ve been a clinician for a little over a decade. Prior to shifting paths I served as the Director of Digital Health Strategy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America‘s national office, which followed a decade-plus career as a writer and editor at The N, Nickelodeon‘s teen network (now TeenNick), and Grand Royal. My undergraduate degree was in writing, and in my earlier career I worked in Quality Assurance for a few technology and software companies, from small start-ups to multinationals. Feel free to check out my LinkedIn if you really want the details 🙂

Looking back, I can see how the skills I developed and traits I leaned on in these prior roles — systemic thinking, clear communication, perspective-taking, empathy, humor, and a comfort level with subject matter that some may find challenging — are still serving me as a therapist today.