Methods and Beliefs

The protocols that I utilize for working with my clients have been developed over many years of clinical work and represent a combination of many different techniques and schools. I am not wedded to any one method or belief and, instead, tend to be a pragmatist and utilize what works best with each individual client. I am trained in Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDRIA-Approved Instructor), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (published text Tools for Trauma: A CBT Approach), Gestalt Psychotherapy, Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Trauma Recovery Institute Method (TRI Method), Though Field Therapy (TFT), Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Humanistic Psychotherapy, Self Psychology, Addictions Treatment, 12 Step Approach, Jungian Psychotherapy, Sexual Crucible Approach, Systemic Psychotherapy (Structural & Strategic), Bowenian Psychotherapy, Crisis Intervention Models, and Transpersonal Psychology.

However, the most important training that I have ever completed and what has made me an excellent psychotherapist is that I have done my own work. I have spent over three years as a client attending weekly psychotherapy sessions addressing painful and difficult issues of my past and present. I hated almost every minute of it and, paradoxically, I am grateful that I completed this important work. I am familiar with the terrain of recovering from a painful past and believe that I am skilled in helping others navigate this difficult passage.  

The Compassion Unlimited Method

My method of working with clients is a very simple one—simple, not easy. First, we begin by completing a thorough evaluation, which includes an informed consent for treatment, structured clinical interview and a battery of assessment instruments. Next, I ask my clients to complete an exercise that helps them write a Personal Covenant. This Personal Mission Statement is a contemplative exercise that helps the client determine how and who they want to be—what behaviors and beliefs that they will adopt as their “Code of Honor.” This document becomes our blueprint for intentionality that we will use in the future to help decide which behaviors and beliefs are helping and which are thwarting the fulfillment of this Mission.

After the completion of the Mission Statement, we spend one full session with the client telling their “story.” This narrative begins at birth continues through the present day and into the future. This narrative is videotaped and the client is asked to review this tape at home. With this exercise completed, the client is asked to identify experiences in their present-day life in which they find them selves habitually behaving and/or thinking in ways that are inconsistent with their mission—where they breach their own integrity. The reason for this breach is that that client has experienced some present-day trigger that is perceived as a threat. This perception of threat has caused an automatic engagement of the “sympathetic nervous system” during which the client experiences heightened arousal and diminished motor and cognitive capacities. Our work from here is two-fold. First, I assist the client in developing skills for self-regulation so that s/he can lower arousal during these present-day experiences and regain optimal cognitive and motor functioning. Also, I have found that there are many times when a client needs assistance tracing back their own history to find the experiences that resulted in the “learning” of these threats and help them to desensitize and reprocess these experiences (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing, or EMDR, is often employed here). By using this dialectic approach—part present and part past—I have experienced clients recovering intentional functioning and lessening of symptoms much more rapidly than in traditional psychotherapy.

The Compassion Unlimited Method does not work for everyone and I remain flexible in helping the client identify and choose a method of working together that is right for him or her.  

Business Issues

I have found that the methods I utilize for psychotherapy work more effectively in a 90 minute session rather than a 50 minute one. I remain flexible on this issue but recommend 90 minute time blocks, especially when we are completing work on past traumatic experiences. My fees are $150/hour ($200 for a 90 minute session). These fees are not negotiable. I take no third-party payments but will assist you in filing your own insurance forms. I strongly advocate the taping of sessions for your own personal review and use. I will supply the first videotape but you will be responsible for bring tapes to subsequent sessions or you may purchase them from me at $2.00 each. Special pricing is available for more intensive blocks of time (e.g. 2 hr., 3 hr., 4 hr., full-day. Call or email for pricing.

	Downloads Informed Consent Assessment Instruments Covenant Exercise