LCSW

My varied life experiences furnish a broad perspective on the many circumstances that clients present with. As an advanced science student at a university, I learned precision analytical skills but found that work unsatisfying. Subsequently, I was employed as a welder, cab driver, and salesperson and had several of my own businesses. During that time, I also lived with people from many different cultures.

I had my share of success and painful failures at finding rewarding work and the same was true in relationships. It is virtually a cliché that therapists end up in this work to heal their own wounds, That has a dark side when therapists who have only begun to examine their own issues charge ahead to "help" others. Yet, self-awareness is the primary quality of a good therapist. I'd advise counseling with a mature, ripened spirit who has done an enormous amount of work on him or herself. In addition to therapy, I have explored my own development through many different avenues including yoga-like movement disciplines and different styles of intensive meditation as well as many workshops and much reading regarding consciousness, psychology, philosophy, and personal growth. Of course, such learning experiences only meet a true test in real life, to the great challenges life presents--to illness, a broken relationship, or a difficult financial decision. I find, that taken together, my life experiences provide understanding, humility, and gratitude--in a way that graduate schools could never teach.