Anxiety is an overwhelming preoccupation with what may happen in the future.  Let’s explore your anxiety, becoming familiar with subconscious bodily signals as well as thought patterns and responses, and help you learn from it and learn to calm it when it is not helpful.

Do you find yourself in between cultures, pulled between differing expectations? Cultural identity is a broad concept that includes ethnicity, nationality, religion, social class and generation.

How we are positioned in relation to these broad categories affects our sense of self. It can be a great source of strength, and also a source of anxiety.

The world is steeped in projections that have a profound influence on our experience, and exploring our own specific relationship to these forces is an important part of understanding who we are.

Depression is a mood that may manifest in lack of energy, negative thoughts about self and the world, poor sleep…

Loss of someone close to us is one of the hardest experiences we face as humans.   We can also experience grief from other types of loss.  Although there are recognized “typical” responses to loss that may be useful to consider, not everyone follows the same path.  I can help you figure out how to process your loss in a way that allows you to forward in  a way that feels right to you.

Our lives often appear to have different chapters, bounded by more or less recognizable markers. It might be moving to a new place, the start of a new career, retirement from a long one, a change in physical ability…

Our society does not encourage men to seek out help when they are having emotional difficulties, relationship challenges or mental health issues.  And, by the same token, men are not taught healthy ways to manage these challenges on their own.  Often, we don’t even recognize that when we are repeatedly lashing out in anger, or just lying on the couch unable to find the motivation to get up, or consuming mind-altering substances past the point of enjoyment, that these are signs of unattended distress that can be managed in other, more satisfying and beneficial ways.

Men are often “encouraged” to come to therapy by a partner, friend or family member and retain mixed feelings about it.  Even if the choice to seek help is made alone, it is not a simple one.  If this is you, I welcome your reluctant side that thinks this might be a waste of time, along with your optimistic part that hopes this will be a first step towards positive change.  Therapy can be a place where you learn new ways to relate to yourself and to the world, and I look forward to sharing these possibilities with you.

It is often through difficulties in our relationships with others that we come to the realization that we may need help from a third party.  You may have heard of “attachment theory,” which explains certain elements of the ways we relate to others based on our early life experiences.  Helping you understand your own relationship needs and also those of your current/past/future partners and how those interrelate, is part of what I offer.  We will also explore the specific ways that we are encouraged to relate to others by social norms and how this affects past and present relationships. 

Society’s expectations for relationship roles are gendered, and also constantly evolving, and this can be confusing. We were raised with certain expectations based on what we saw at home or on TV and these become unconscious parts of our understanding of relationships.  Exploring some of these influences and how they have formed us can help us figure out how we want to show up in important relationships.

Where do tensions arise?  What feels particularly good?  How do you release the tension and increase the positive feelings?

How do you relate to your sexuality? Sometimes it may feel reassuringly consistent.  At other times it may be a source of deep anxiety.  It is always a rich place of self-exploration.

Although frequently connected to mood disorders such as anxiety or depression, difficulty sleeping is a particular response, and there are specific tools we can try that are helpful in taking back control of your much-needed sleep cycle.

Using alcohol or other substances to help ease or avoid feelings is a common coping mechanism.  If this is something you find yourself doing more than you would like, we can explore ways to change that behavior.  If you are experiencing life disrupting addiction, I would refer you to an expert in the field.

Although it is a term that gets used a lot these days, trauma is very real.  Life-threatening events affect the deepest parts of our nervous systems and continue to affect us in subtle and not so subtle ways.  Sexual trauma disrupts one’s sense of self and activates the most basic survival mechanisms. Developmental trauma profoundly affects the way one exists in relationships and in the world.

I take a trauma informed approach that directly and indirectly addresses causes and symptoms, helping you to recover a sense of safety that has been threatened at the very core.