I am a Master's Level, professional trained and supervised psychotherapist. I am also a Licensed Addictions Counselor (LAC) which is the highest of the four levels in Colorado. I have been providing therapy services for over 20 years and professional supervision to other therapists for over 10 years. I have experience working with adults and adolescents treating a broad spectrum of issues and disorders. I specialize in helping people improve relationships and overcome addiction, depression, and anxiety disorders.
Reaching out for therapy can be difficult. I am here to help you on that journey. I aim to provide a supportive relationship and environment in which lasting life changes are made through increased emotional and cognitive flexibility, and a greater sense of self, meaning, purpose, and overall well-being.
I know that life can get confusing and painful at times. We can wander into some pretty dark corners of our minds and need help finding our way out. People can spend way too much time stuck in unhealthy patterns, reacting to the same triggers, and feeling the same negative emotions. It is not possible to untie these issue without help from the outside. Help with change can come in different ways. Using proven approached, I have spent my career helping individuals look at their maladaptive patterns and peel back the layers in an effort to uncover the core issues that are keeping them stuck. Having a better life means building a new healthy system to effectively define your issues and to quickly solve problems with the essential support and tools.
Early in my career, my curiosity about people and willingness to take on more challenging roles put me in some great places to learn. In 2002, my journey began in an acute care psychiatric hospital in Michigan. All our clients were coming to us in serious crisis. Physically managing clients was not uncommon. I learned quickly about the extremes of human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The stuff we learned about in PSY 101, but alive, desperate, and chaotic. I realized the difference between a real psychiatric conditions and watered-down Hollywood version of mental illness.
In 2004, I started graduate school at Adler University in Chicago. While in graduate school, I provided case management services to the severely mentally ill. This was not an office job. Days were spent searching for client in the streets, hotels and various haunts of Chicago. Visits ranged from a casual cup of coffee to a emergency hospital admission. During that same period of time, I also spent a couple nights weekly doing evening/overnight shifts at a housing project for schizophrenic men.
During grad school, I completed a one-year internship doing dual-diagnosis work for the Hazelden Foundation in Chicago. Upon completion of the internship, I earned a job in their Sober Residence. I worked for Hazelden through graduate school and remained a part-time counselor after graduation. I worked in a community counseling center as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Chicago for 5 years.
After settling in Denver in 2011, I continued my career as professional therapist working for the University of Colorado and a large mental health agency in Littleton.
From early 2015 through 2020, I was the Clinical Director at two different inpatient alcohol and drug detox/rehabilitation centers. I have, most recently, been the clinical supervisor for a Mental Health Tech start-up managing clients and therapist in 7 states. I also had a part-time private practice during this period. I am currently focusing on taking all my experience and insight into a full time private practice. Working directly with clients is my passion.
Additional areas of focus: Family conflicts, Trauma and abuse, Grief, Intimacy-related issues, Anger management, Career difficulties, Bipolar disorder, Coping with life changes, Coaching, Compassion fatigue, ADHD, Abandonment, Aging and Geriatric Issues, Attachment issues, Avoidant Personality, Co-morbidity, Codependency, Commitment Issues, Communication problems, Control issues, Dependent Personality, Dissociation, Drug and Alcohol Addiction, Emptiness, Family of Origin Issues, Family Problems, Fatherhood Issues, Forgiveness, Guilt and shame, Impulsivity, Infidelity, Isolation / loneliness, Jealousy, Life purpose, Men's issues, Midlife crisis, Money and financial issues, Mood disorders , Obsessions, Compulsions, and OCD, Panic disorder and panic attacks, Paranoia, Personality Disorders, Phobias, Post-traumatic stress, Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling), Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Self-Harm, Self-love, Sex Addiction, Sexuality, Social anxiety and phobia, Workplace issues
CO LPC LPC.0005795