My approach is psychodynamic. I utilize the Relational Model largely informed by the work of Melanie Klein and Wilfred Bion. This is not a disease based model. It is based on a theory of the mind as a separate entity from the brain. This theory has evolved from over 140 years of clinical and scientific data that clearly demonstrate the existence of the mind, how it becomes ill and how it can be healed.

This is accomplished by accessing unconscious thoughts and feelings that affect and influence the way we understand who we are, who others are and how we fit into the world. These beliefs, formed early in life and operating outside of conscious awareness, are the bedrock of our sense of self. Trauma, especially early in life, when this sense of self is forming, distort and warp our personalities. Instead of being our true self we become someone who is defending against fear and anxiety created by a less than auspicious environment. These defenses lock us into beliefs about self and other that lead us to behave and perceive in maladaptive ways. Behaviors that drive others away or turn them against us. Thus we perpetuate self defeating behaviors that keep us trapped in bad relationships, jobs and life situations. These are the source of our sadness, fearfulness, helplessness and hopelessness. These unconscious beliefs and feelings keep us stuck in unsatisfying, unhappy and unproductive life situations.

It is these unconscious beliefs about self and other that are the subject of therapy. The psychoanalytic method is the best way to access and modify this unconscious material. Old beliefs are lived out in the therapy and made available for analysis and modification. The analytic relationship provides the medium through which these underlying beliefs are accessed and the means by which they are modified. The result of such work is the individual becomes liberated from irrational beliefs about self and other and is free to live an authentic life of their own creation born of their own desires and sensibilities.

For those who succeed with this method the result is a life lived freely with a capacity to achieve one's potential and find peace and fulfillment.