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Services I Offered
Personalized Care Tailored to Your Needs
When I engage with clients in therapy I strive to create a safe, open and non-judgmental space where you can explore the past and the present in order to shape the future you wish to create. Individuals and couples who work with us are seen, heard, validated, and valued for who they are and for where they are in life. I seek to help you understand and change your underlying limiting thoughts and dynamics.
My areas of specialty are: Relationships / Marriage / Divorce / Dating, Premarital Counseling, Grief & Loss, Trauma (PTSD), Anxiety (ruminations), Military Service, Social Anxiety, ACT, DBT, Depression, Work Stress, Career Burnout (especially in the tech industry), Mid-life Realignment (it's only a crisis if you have ignored this), Adult ADHD, ADD Coaching, Men's/Male-identified Issues.
I am currently open to seeing clients via telehealth or in-person sessions.
Individual Therapy
If there is one constant in life, it's change; a new child, a new job, a new relationship, marriage, or a change in any one of those. We enjoy helping people navigate uncertain times, helping them to find a way through, take a new tack, or tap into hidden strengths. Sometimes we can change the situation; sometimes we must change ourselves, tearing down limiting beliefs and narratives to create new beliefs and narratives that honor our true self, our true values, and our goals. Other times we must learn to make peace with what we cannot change. We can help you to distinguish between what can and cannot be changed so that you can reduce struggle and be more empowered and equipped to move forward in your life.
I bring to my work as therapists a wide range of life experiences, including 19 years of working in the IT field for Microsoft among others. We understand the challenges of working in competitive high-tech workplaces; stress, long hours, looming deadlines, politics, and high pressure that can lead to burn out. Often the first casualty of working in high stress jobs is a healthy life outside of work, our relationships, and a sense of joy and engagement in work. I would love to share with you some of the strategies we have used with others to put the LIFE back into work-life balance. Let’s turn living to work into working to LIVE.
Couples Therapy
My work with couples is informed by over 45 years of research conducted by the Gottman Institute which focuses on communication, conflict resolution, emotional connection, trust-building or rebuilding after an affair.
I help couples practice honest and respectful ways of communicating that result in feelings of togetherness, deep friendship, trust, and passion. Together we help partners facilitate connection and authentic communication, resolve gridlocked issues, decrease negative conflict, and deepen their emotional and sexual intimacy.
Relationships can be a challenge, but they can also be a source of growth and renewal. Each of our relationships is a lesson in our life that has something to teach us, to help to us evolve and grow as a person. When a relationship is difficult, that person or situation can be our mentor, helping us to learn important lessons. Realizing this, we can begin to feel grateful not only for the opportunity to evolve as a person, but also for the individual or situation that guided us to this lesson. I enjoy helping couples and individuals improve their relationships; whether that be to your partner, your relationship to yourself, to your work, or to an aspect of your life.
Premarital Couples Therapy
Whether someone recommended premarital counseling to you, be it your officiant or a friend, or you and your significant other are merely entertaining the idea yourselves (good for you!), you’re on the right track. Premarital counseling can be immensely helpful for a soon-to-be married couple about to enter the most exciting, and most life-changing chapter of their life together. It’s also incredibly beneficial. “Premarital counseling can help couples create a strong, happy marriage that brings happiness, health, wealth and well-being not only to the two people, but to their children, their children's children and the generations after them,
In premarital therapy I'll cover a wide range of topics such as healthy conflict resolution, creating and maintaining rituals of connection, financial matters and sex, to name a few. We utilize the research of John and Julie Gottman who have identified the habits and behaviors in relationships which predict their success, satisfaction and longevity.
"Thanks for helping me through the tough months. Those talks really helped me get back to who I am and want to be."
Mark D.
"I remember when the sessions began, and I was hesitant to let my guard down with someone I just met, but that changed pretty quickly as John demonstrated his warmth. Some of the sessions were highly enlightening, even mind-blowing, as he helped me explore my own psyche, why I do things I do, why I think the things I think."
Chris W.
"I just wanted to let you know that we are doing well, better than ever actually. When I found out about the affair I was gutted and saw no way forward. The tools and coaching you gave us helped us create our '2nd' marriage. Many, many thanks again!"
S. W.
Noctua
Noctua is the Latin word for owl and is associated with the Goddess Athena (noctua Athene), who represents wisdom, science and strategy.