Questions and Answers about my approach to Counseling

 WHAT ARE MY SPECIALTIES?

My primary areas of specialization are individual, marriage and family counseling. I enjoy helping people improve their personal and family relationships. This includes:

 I have over 25 years of professional experience and have helped people recover from domestic violence, child abuse, post-traumatic stress and substance abuse. 

WHAT IS MY FRAME OF REFERENCE?

I believe in helping people apply their personal faith and religious beliefs to help them face and solve the problems they are facing. I come from a Christian faith, but I have studied other faiths and religious traditions. I do not try to impose my beliefs on you but help you examine your own believes, both religious and about life, and then help you identify strengths and solutions.

I help you learn how to use practical techniques to improve your life situation. I take an eclectic view of psychology recognizing various approaches can help different people. I do tend to prefer the more "down to earth" views.

I find myself incorporating many of the concepts from the 12 Steps programs, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, because I have found they provide an effective way to help not just with drug and alcohol problems but with many other kinds of addictive behaviors.

I also use a “systems” approach where we look at your family, and social environment as a whole. In many cases I ask you to include other family members in the counseling.

My approach includes some education about relevant topics to help you understand what may be going on in your life. For example, many family problems can be resolved by learning how to communicate better with each other. So if your family can learn how to use more effective communication to "attack the problem" not each other family relationships can get better.

Stress and anxiety can be dealt with by learning relaxation techniques.

Children’s behavior can improve by learning appropriate parenting techniques.

HOW LONG DO I USUALLY SEE PEOPLE?

This ranges from one to four sessions to several months. Some people just need help getting through a rough spot in life where short term cognitive treatment is all it takes. While others want and need longer term treatment to resolve underlying issues.

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Last modified: 01/23/08