Welcome
If you've landed on this page, you or someone you care about is likely searching for information, support or simply someone to hear your story without judgment.
 
Perhaps you want more--tired of endless rounds of sadness, anxiety, depression, anger or unresolved grief, you are seeking another way. It is possible to reconnect with joy and equanimity (mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation) even in the face of these difficult emotions.
 
I encourage you to look around this website and get a sense of who I am as a person, and as a therapist. If you think there may be a fit, we can have an initial phone conversation. If we are not a good fit, I'll do my best to help you find a coach or therapist who is.

Specialties

Counseling for Cancer Patients

If you or your loved one has been diagnosed with cancer or other serious illness, counseling can offer meaningful emotional support and healing.

Depression Treatment

To learn more about my approach to depression treatment and how it could help you, please reach out.

Anxiety Treatment

To learn more about my approach to anxiety treatment and how it could help you, please reach out.

Psychedelic Preparation and Integration

To learn more about psychedelic preparation and integration and how it could help you, please reach out.

Therapy For Healthcare Providers

To learn more about my approach to therapy for healthcare providers and how it could help you to reduce stress, please reach out.

Life Coaching

If you need help getting where you want to go, life coaching can open your life to a sustained sense of resolution and new possibilities for the future.

​Many Paths

path through mountains
Success in our work together will have very little to do with the methods and  techniques I suggest, or on my theoretical orientation   (EMDR, CBT, ACT, Mindfulness, Body Centered, Jungian, Buddhist inspired among  others).  My profession has, in some ways, been overly attracted to evidence-based protocols, sometimes minimizing the value of what is most important--human to human interaction. 
 
In his book Bringing Psychotherapy to Life Through Caring Connections, author Jon G. Allen explains that 'manuals don't change people, therapists do.' He believes that the essential clinical skill is being human. Yes, competence and experience is required--but without trust and caring, interest in doing the hard work of therapy quickly dissolves. The therapist/client relationship could almost be described as spiritual --hard to define but it's essentially the experience of feeling understood and connected--sometimes for the first time in their lives.  Here, feelings, thoughts, ideas, fears,  are allowed to be heard, understood and valued, without judgement. 

Difficult Emotions

Life, with or without our input, brings us situations that bring sadness, anxiety, depression, anger and deep grief. Life also brings joy, peace, contentment, love and compassion. It’s natural to try to push away difficult emotions and try to hang on to pleasant ones. Buddhist philosophy tells us that either ‘grasping’ or ‘clinging’ in an attempt to hold on to pleasant emotions or rejecting or running from painful emotions, results in suffering.

​Our Work Together

There is a way to experience life events and emotions without blaming ourselves or others; without making something or someone right or wrong. There is a way to live in the present without regrets of the past or emotionally living through future events that may or may not ever come to pass. This is the core of how I work with clients. This is the basis for the way I live my life. 
 
I have both a deep sensitivity to human suffering and an unshakeable optimism in the strength of the human spirit. Profound healing is possible when courage and vulnerability of both the client and therapist meet in the therapeutic room.

​How Can I Help?

I work best with clients who are committed to change and movement in their lives and who are at a place where they are able to invest the time and energy required to experience this change. You may already have an understanding that this describes where you are in your life. More than likely however, you will not truly know this until after you have experienced three or four sessions of our work together; until you have or have not done the recommended work between sessions; and until you can decide whether we are on our way to developing the therapeutic relationship I described earlier.
 
It is reasonable to ask—what if all I am looking for is some support; some encouragement and am not looking to engage in the type of work you describe? These needs can often be met through friends and other relationships but some prefer an objective, outside 'ear' where they have less need to filter information sharing. While this is not 'therapy' per se, it is a valid and important component of a therapeutic relationship. During our initial meeting we will jointly arrive at which type of therapeutic relationship you are seeking.

Contact Me​

Use the contact form on this website to begin our conversation--provide as much or as little information as feels right and I will get back with you within 48 hours. If you do not hear from me within two days, please leave me a voicemail at 507-400-2778.  

If you have symptoms of any infection, including COVID19 or have recently been exposed to a person with COVID19 our session can be conducted through a secure on-line service. You will be able to sign in through your personal computer or smart phone.