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Let me introduce myself and tell you a little about my philosophy of counseling.

I've been practicing counseling since 1969, and have worked with athletes and sports teams, adults with disabilities, couples with non-fulfilling relationships, children with developmental and behavioral difficulties, and troubled adolescents. My interests include the mind-body connection, sports psychology and performance improvement, and health psychology.

Over the years, I've studied and tried a number of different approaches to find ways that we can help each other lead more satisfying and fulfilling lives.

Currently I've found that the approach that is called Solution-Oriented comes closest to feeling comfortable to me. I also borrow heavily from theorists who call their approaches Narrative, Strategic, Ericksonian Hypnotherapy, Postmodern, Solution-Focused and to some degree, Cognitive Behavioral. Most people aren't interested in that, so if you're not, it's not very important. I include it here only for those who are interested.

Much of my training has been to learn how to help people make their relationships more satisfying. The places I've worked have given me a wide range of experience and finding ways to simplify everyday life is a special interest of mine.

Here are some of the things that I bring to my work:

• Counseling should focus on your concerns rather than what I might think is good for you (I believe that in most cases, I don't know). All of our work should be aimed at reaching the goals we jointly agree upon. The focus doesn't have to be a medically defined diagnosis but may be anything that you consider important.
  
  
• You have more strengths than deficits, and more than you may even be aware. Sometimes when we are having difficulties, we focus on our mistakes or failures, and we tend to forget we are more than our failures. An important element of counseling is identifying strengths and putting them to use in the problem context.
  
  
• Counseling works best when all parties work together to accomplish mutually agreed-upon goals. People don't get counseling so much as they participate in a discussion that is part of a process of change.
  
  
• It is not always necessary to go into the past to find solutions for the future. I tend to focus on the present and future, but if you feel it would be helpful to go into the past, that is where we need to go.
  
  
• Individuals control and are responsible for their actions but not their feelings. You are not responsible for your feelings but you can control how you respond to them. Often, when you change your actions, feelings will also change.
  
  
• Counseling usually does not need to be long-term to be effective. Lasting change may happen at any time. My aim is for counseling to be effective and as brief as possible. Having said that, I also realize that people change at their own rate, and I work to be respectful of that.