I believe that the client is the expert in their lives and I seek to identify their inner and community resources, past examples of success, elicit their strengths, and honor their current achievements while acknowledging their stressors and challenges.

I find it important to identify the client’s values – what is important to them – and how they both define their values and identify when they fulfill their values.

I also look for the solutions that the client is already using in their lives currently or in the past. If something is working – and it is not harming oneself or another – then use it. If new solutions are needed, then we can work together, collaboratively, to find what works best for you, the individual.

My mission is to help people make positive changes in their lives and to reach more of their potential. I have a background in mindfulness, meditation, life coaching, neuro-linguistic programming, hypnosis, and rational living therapy (a form of CBT).

In my counseling work, I use an eclectic toolkit from various brief therapies, behavioral therapies, and mindfulness. I utilize a behavioral framework while also being familiar with humanistic psychology and social constructivism.

I mostly lean on solution-focused brief therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, and mindfulness-based interventions. The “doingness” or “taking action” is an important aspect of my counseling work. If you are not willing to do some work, and at least be open to reaching a place where you are able to take responsibility for what you can control and how you can make changes in your life, then I am not the right counselor for you.

We are creatures of habit. A lot of our day has been practiced and we are simply going through the motions. A lot of our problems are practiced habits. Whether it is learned behavior, an unhealthy coping mechanism, or an attempt to get our needs met.

It takes a change in our behaviors – our daily practices. Our daily patterns and routines compound through regular repetition every day and week and turn into our habits, rituals, and routines. We react to certain things, people, situations, and environments based upon how we have practiced over and over again.

However, that can be changed; we can create new patterns and learn to “respond” in the world instead of “reacting”.

If we want to change the results that we are getting in our lives – the experiences that we are having – then we need to change what we are doing on a regular basis. Period.