I have been practicing as a licensed psychotherapist since 1983. I work with children, adolescents, adults, and couples. I provide an understanding, caring, and empathic environment to help you gain a better understanding of yourself and your circumstances. I utilize traditional “talk therapy,” which focuses on clarifying the nature of the problems. I help you to understand how your life-history contributes to your current situation, and to recognize and utilize your strengths in order to change negative patterns of thinking, behaving, and communicating. Therapy provides a confidential and supportive setting for you to express and alleviate painful feelings and to explore actions to improve your life. When working with children and adolescents I encourage self-expression, communication, and problem solving. I utilize play therapy with young children to help them express and understand their feelings and conflicts. An important goal of therapy with children and adolescents is to reduce both internal and external conflicts so that healthy emotional and relational development is not compromised. Working with couples, I focus on improving communication and resolving conflicts through cooperation, understanding, and acceptance of each other. In my experience, the problems couples present in therapy often provide an opportunity for self-growth in each partner.