I’m an LCPC — Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor — in Portland, Maine. I assist people with a variety of mental, emotional and behavioral challenges, as well as personal growth, relationship, and career issues. I have worked in mental health since 2003, and opened my private practice in 2007.
I received my master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Southern Maine in 2006. My primary mentor there was Reid Stevens, whose humanistic core made a profound impression on me. From the beginning, my practice has been strongly rooted in the Person-Centered tradition.
I later completed a two-year Gestalt Therapy training program at the Gestalt Institute of New England in Somerville, MA. This training was one of the most valuable and powerful experiences of my life, and I feel privileged to have been able to learn from the collective wisdom of therapists Alan Robinson, Kathy Hearn and Lee Geltman.
Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is an empirically supported integration of Person-Centered Therapy and Gestalt Therapy. I’ve studied EFT with its primary originator, Les Greenberg, along with Serine Warwar, at the Emotion-Focused Clinic at York University in Toronto. I have also studied with Rhonda Goldman through her Emotion-Focused Therapy Institute.
I completed an externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples with Sue Johnson through the Ackerman Institute for the Family (NYC), and Advanced Core Skills in EFT through the New York Center for EFT with George Faller and Debi-Scimeca-Diaz, (NYC).
I studied Gene Gendlin’s Focusing with Ruth Hirsch though the Focusing Institute.
I’ve also studied clinical supervision through Chandler Bay Resources, with Jeri Stevens, Randi Cohen, and Deborah Drew.
I am currently involved in a multi-year study of Psychodrama, the original group therapy format. I’ve studied at the Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute, with Judy Swallow, Jennifer Salimbene, Rebecca Walters and Deborah Shaddy. I’ve also worked with Jacob Gershoni and Nan Nally-Seif at The Psychodrama Institute of New York. In addition, I have consulted with John Nolte, former director of training at the Moreno Institute in Beacon, NY (the original training site for this method). This work has enriched my practice and the lives of my clients, and I’m thrilled to offer groups to my community.
I spend several hours a week acting as a supervisor, consultant, and trainer to other counselors. Assisting in the formation and training of professional counselors has become a passion.
I served a three-year term on the board of the Maine Mental Health Counselors Association, and I’ve worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern Maine in the Counselor Education program.
I am an NCC (National Certified Counselor) through the National Board of Certified Counselors. I am a member of the American Counseling Association, the Maine Mental Health Counselors Association, the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, and the Association for Humanistic Counseling.
I’m excited to go to the office each day because I love the work I do. Every session is a chance to go a little further, to understand a little more, to help someone make a little more peace with themselves and the world. I couldn’t have asked for a more gratifying career.