After many years as a psychotherapist working with adults, I’ve learned the best therapy is whatever encourages my clients to be curious about themselves and what motivates them to change what they really want to change while embracing what doesn’t need to change at all. Therapy is more than fixing a problem – though that can happen too. It is a process of learning how we manage our world, and how our habits, thought processes, early family lives, and current environments impact our everyday emotions and actions. Good therapy involves thinking about difficult questions in order to address complex problems, in a safe environment with a respectful and collaborative listener. My approach is cognitive-behavioral (CBT), humanistic, and client-centered. I am less focused on a diagnosis and more focused on how I can help you cope with life’s challenges. This leads to a strength-based approach to making progress.

Whether you are looking to work on anxiety, stress, family or relationship issues, work problems, trauma, sleep disorders, depression, or chronic illness – psychotherapy is a process that can help, and I will be happy to join you on that journey.

In college, my courses in psychology were far and away the most interesting classes I attended. I read assignments before they were assigned. At the time, I didn't think of it as "mental health" — it was simply using the knowledge I'd gained from the world of social science to help improve people's lives. I did not believe I could change the world, but I did like the idea of making a difference for one person at a time. I still believe understanding ourselves and trying to understand the people around us are the greatest and most necessary, challenges we face as humans.

I travel, sing in a choir, bake, watch movies, and talk about movies. I also love exploring the lesser-known parts of Washington DC, such as the Exorcist stairs and spy dropoffs.

I like to re-read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. It's an account of his poorly planned attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail with an even more inadequately prepared travel companion. His awe of nature, appreciation of history, and unstoppable humor always captivate me. I love his bursts of resilience, as well as his knowing the right time to give up.

One of my favorite organizations in DC is Street Sense Media, an organization that supports the unhoused community by publishing a newspaper that their clients sell on the street for a profit that the sellers keep. The paper allows the unhoused to tell their stories through photos, drawings, poetry, and news articles — and their selling them to the public allows for interesting and dignified interactions to educate the community about the lack of adequate housing (and other services) in our city.

Like many others, I find being in nature is the best to gain new perspectives and the strength to deal with whatever has to be dealt with. Woods and water during the day, stars at night.