How I work

My approach, while deeply informed by relational psychoanalysis, is not dogmatic, but maximally responsive to each person. Every individual and hence every treatment is unique. However, I will approach our conversations with compassion and curiosity, providing you an ongoing experience of an attentive listener who wants to know all aspects of you. Central to the integrative power of psychotherapy is the experience of hearing one’s own voice and making deeper contact with one’s own mind and emotions; I consider it one of my primary functions to facilitate that self-listening with my careful listening. However, my approach is not one in which I aim to be a “blank screen.” I will bring my mind with consistency and seriousness to you, your history, your difficulties and your desires. I will ask you questions you might not ask yourself. I will bring to you my insights, observations, and ideas with the aim of opening up and expanding a conversation you may already be having with yourself about yourself.

Relational Psychoanalysis

I realize many people have preconceptions about what psychoanalysis is while others might not have any associations to the term “relational psychoanalysis.” I will try to explain here what is important to me about these terms.

Fundamentally, psychoanalysis takes as a given that we are all constituted by unconscious as well as conscious aspects of self. Psychoanalysis aims to access and engage those unconscious aspects, alongside the conscious ones, within the therapeutic process. Also underpinning psychoanalytic treatment is the conviction (bolstered by decades of child-development research) that past experiences, especially our early childhood environments, have a profound impact on how our adult selves are constituted. Where we come from—especially those people who cared for us from the beginning—lives on in us, often shaping our thoughts, choices, capacities, and relational proclivities in ways that can feel perplexing to us and make us feel we do not fully belong to ourselves. Psychoanalytic therapy does not aim to eradicate these echoes within—they are part of our richness and such a task would be impossible anyway—but to know them, so that, rather than being at their mercy, we can work with them in ways that are healing and generative.

As a psychoanalyst, I aim to hear various aspects of you, some of which might be split off from consciousness or from other aspects of yourself, to hold these different parts and to help you bring them into conversation with each other, so that you can experience yourself more fully. Psychoanalysis aims to foster self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and ultimately self-love. It is a profound practice of curiosity, honesty, and acceptance.

I am trained in the relational psychoanalytic tradition which places the relationship between the two people in the treatment room at the heart of therapeutic work. Relational analysis is a flexible, dynamic practice and has a long tradition of incorporating the insights of many fields of psychological research especially child-development/attachment research and trauma theory. I practice a form of psychoanalysis that emphasizes the therapeutic relationship because it is evident to me that true relatedness and true self-possession are mutually dependent, each requiring and fostering the other.

Treatment Areas

I work with adults (18+) experiencing a wide range of issues and concerns.

I have experience working with people suffering from obsessive compulsive disorders, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders. I work with people struggling with the long aftermath of complex trauma, including childhood abuse and neglect. I help people metabolize losses that have not been fully mourned so that grief can cease to dominate their current lives. I work with people who feel overwhelmed by and inhibited by anxiety, depression, and fear, people suffering from creative blocks and inhibitions, people struggling to develop their agency, and people having difficulties within their relationships.

I help people navigate complex life transitions such as: changes in primary relationships including divorce; fertility struggles and becoming a parent; death of a loved one; the many life-building challenges of young adulthood; and career changes.

I welcome people of diverse cultural backgrounds and identities to my practice.

Frequency & Fees

Your therapeutic process, in terms of length and frequency, will be tailored for your individual needs. As with any real effort to change or develop, therapy requires a regular on-going commitment. I work with people on a once, twice, or three-time a week basis. Sessions are 45 minutes each.

I see patients in-person and online. We will determine together how to structure your treatment so that you are realistically able, given your schedule and demands of your life, to engage regularly and consistently in therapy. However, I recommend, especially in the beginning stages of treatment when we are developing our therapeutic relationship, that we make an effort to meet in person.

I am not an in-network provider for any insurance companies, but I can provide you with a bill that you can submit to your insurance company for out-of-network reimbursement. Please contact me for current fees. Ascertaining your out-of-network insurance reimbursement rate will be crucial to estimating your out-of-pocket cost.