About Me

I grew up in Michigan and I am a graduate of the University of Michigan (BA in Psychology) and the University of Chicago (MA in Social Work)

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Although my education and experience has helped me develop skill as a therapist, I’ve developed a style of helping others from my own personal beliefs. These beliefs include:

  • Circumstances change for the better when you focus on yourself rather than other people. Your point of power: focusing on what you are doing and feelingĀ right now.
  • Allowing for choice leads to self-empowerment. On the other hand, It’s hard to make choice if you don’t trust yourself. Therefore, learning to trust yourself is the most important skill you can practice.
  • Feelings are important. They are signals meant to gain your attention, much like traffic lights and crossing gates gain your attention when you drive a car. Naming your feelings is an important task in therapy, but it shouldn’t be the only task. Equally important: understanding the messages that accompany feeling signals. These are often short and simple statements that are offered for direction. My job is helping you to achieve more clarity in both your feeling-signals as well as the messages underneath.
  • Typically people seek out counseling because they get lost in being able to decipher both the feeling-signals as well as the accompanying messages.
  • It is not necessary to dwell on feelings. Once you receive the message, it is time to move on to clarifying your choices and taking action.
  • Focusing on your past or your family of origin will not improve your mood. Understanding what happened and why will not change your circumstances.
  • Concentrating on what’s not right in your life or what makes you miserable will only make you more miserable.
  • It’s not necessary to give up your beliefs; nor is it necessary to cling to them. Conflict lessens when you’re able to see your beliefs as preferences (or personal guidelines) rather than cold, hard truths.

I’ve had the good fortune to work in a number of settings: community mental health centers, psychiatric hospitals, alternative school for at-risk students, Domestic Relations Court through Cook County, and the managed care industry for behavioral health. I am licensed in the State of Illinois and a member of the National Association of Social Workers