Painful and distressing symptoms are part of a built-in warning system that alerts us to an awakening of the true self. This awakening can make you feel out of control or like a failure. As social beings, we need others to help us get back in sync with who we truly are and how we really feel. Otherwise, we may feel like we continuously fall back on old strategies for dealing with reality. Therapy aims to get you back in touch with the wise consciousness at the core of your being so that you can stop wasting the precious time of your life. Therapy allows for a witnessing of the pain of life in order to prevent suffering through life.

Prior to private practice I was a Psychologist (Clinical Supervisor) for Health+Hospitals Correctional Health Services on Rikers Island. I worked at the women's jail on the unit for the severely mentally ill patient population, in addition to specialized treatment programming units for solitary confinement. I have also worked at Elmhurst Hospital Center, Brooklyn College Counseling Program, Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, Ella McQueen Reception Center (OCFS), and each of the NYC juvenile detention facilities. Most recently, I worked at Madison Park Psychological Services, a thriving group practice in Manhattan.

I feel that I offer a good balance of seriousness and lighthearted-ness where the realness of life can be looked at, but also laughed at when appropriate. I aim to embrace the ambiguous and unknown together, and to see the often surprising places that it takes us.

The therapeutic relationship allows for a totally unique social experience where you can reexamine old wounds that awaken between you and your therapist. All problems are interpersonal relationship issues in some way -- the therapy relationship is like a laboratory where your fears, shame, guilt, disappointments, fantasies, etc. can all be examined, exposed, and reworked in a lower stakes situation in contrast to the rest of life.

You will feel more balanced & regulated, notice improvement in your various relationships, gain healthier perspectives, notice improvement in insight, feel more responsive & less reactive, feel a more realistic and reliable self-esteem, notice being more self-aware, notice improved capacity to trust when it’s realistic to do so, be able to better identify and use coping skills, improved ability to navigate difficult situations, develop an ability to accept what can’t be changed & to grieve and move on, and build empathy for your Self.

I am fairly active in sessions, but non-directive as I allow the patient to take the lead. I listen carefully for the more emotional side of things, encouraging more and more self-reflection as we work collaboratively.

I believe that people inherently strive for self-healing in that we are naturally pulled toward a state of homeostasis. Change is natural and desirable, but can also be difficult and painful -- and as social beings, it feels best when we have support when undergoing major changes inside and out. Life is also inherently full of pain (that is mostly unavoidable) but suffering does not have to co-exist with the pain; it can be avoided, reduced, or managed. Relaxing a struggle with reality (life as it really is) paves the way for real control and stability.

For me, the best part of therapy is being allowed into the sanctity of people's worlds, having "moments of meeting" with people where sometimes the smallest and most spontaneous feelings of connection happen just at the right time to change your perspective for the better. "De-fusing" from the stories we tell ourselves (about ourselves, others, and the world) and being able to laugh at the absurdity of life together; and feeling like the precious time of life is no longer being wasted on stress, conflict, and false selves.