CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
Teletherapy in Washington & California

The fit, or resonance, between client and therapist is essential to the work. In fact, the most robust predictor of positive outcomes in therapy is the strength of the client-therapist relationship. Good therapists differ tremendously in both style and methods. To help guide your decision, I provide a good deal of information on my website to give you a feel for who I am and how I approach therapy. Our free 20-minute consultation will help you get an even better sense for whether we might be a good fit. Please contact me with any questions.

Therapy should never create more stress than it resolves. If it creates significant financial strain, you now have one more issue than you had when you began. It is therefore wise to find a therapist with whom you can work for whatever time is needed to resolve your concerns. I’d be glad to discuss your needs to help you make this decision.

I usually recommend that clients start with weekly therapy. This allows us to establish a strong working relationship, develop a treatment plan to meet your needs, and make consistent progress. After that we can decrease the frequency as appropriate. With certain disorders that require a high level of care, I require that my clients initially come in biweekly. At some point many clients decide to come in on an as-needed basis, returning when they are struggling with a difficult issue or life transition.

Now that I’ve had the privilege of being a therapist for several decades, I’ve had many former clients return for as-needed sessions with gaps of many years in between (the record is 12). Because I know your story and personal struggles well and we have a trusting relationship, the work proceeds quickly.

People utilize therapy in a wide variety of ways. Some clients wish to change a specific pattern or are seeking clarity with a particular problem and work with me relatively briefly. Other clients benefit from longer-term, in-depth therapy to change destructive patterns and heal longstanding wounds. Some seek therapy to know themselves more deeply; they seek to live richer lives that honor their most deeply-held values and hopes for this one life we get, and the work is open-ended.

Yes. It is my duty to practice ethically, and in certain cases it is unwise or unethical for me to be your therapist without additional support from other professionals. Something is not always better than nothing, because if I were to work with you without additional support, it would wrongly imply that my services alone are adequate to treat your condition. For example, depending on the severity of an eating disorder, I may require regular contact with your medical provider to monitor your physical status and/or require that you meet regularly with a dietician who specializes in this area.

If you are early in your recovery from alcohol or substance abuse, I may stipulate that you are actively working with a sponsor in a 12-Step group or are taking part in a comparable program. If you have a condition for which the first-line treatment is medication (e.g., Bipolar I Disorder or other psychotic disorder), I require you to be concurrently under the care of a specialized medical professional. In my initial evaluation, I’ll assess your treatment needs and offer my opinion.

Yes. I don’t work with the perpetrators of violence because I work with victim-survivors. There are specialized providers trained to do this work. Similarly, I don’t see couples in battering relationships. In addition, I don’t treat clients with moderate to severe OCD, moderate to severe panic disorder, those who are actively abusing alcohol or substances or are newly in recovery, or individuals who are chronically suicidal or self-harming. In all cases, there are evidence-based treatments available whose efficacy is supported by solid research, and they are best delivered by specialists trained in these methods.