I am passionate about helping people with their emotional growth and development. Nothing is more rewarding to me than to help someone go from a state of suffering to healing and happiness. We all have times when we get stuck and are unable to find our way. But if you are willing to reach out for help, you can overcome any challenge.
If you are reading this, you probably have been trying hard to overcome your problems by yourself. You may have turned to others for help. Well-meaning advice from friends and family, and text-book, one-size-fits-all approaches from self-help lessons, have not done the trick.
You are ready to consider turning to a trained and supportive professional, to help you find answers to overcoming the challenges you are struggling with in your life. My training and experience as a psychologist has taught me to understand people as unique individuals.
My approach is to help you get a deeper sense of who you are, the specific challenges you are going through, and your unique strengths and abilities to overcome them. Oftentimes our problems are caused by strong feelings deep inside that we are not fully aware of. Identifying, accepting, and understanding these feelings can help you find ways to make you feel better about yourself and about your life, and to find solutions to the problems that are standing in the way of your success
People who come to me for therapy are often struggling with uncomfortable feelings of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, grief, confusion, or lack of direction. Many are dealing with trauma, family conflicts, problems in school, work and career, or relationship issues, including problems with love, sex, and intimacy.
Would you answer “yes” to any of the following questions?
- Do you get stressed out and worry a lot about if things will be ok?
- Do you sometimes get overwhelmed with feelings of frustration, irritability, or being on edge?
- Do you dwell on past disappointments, losses and rejections, or are you being held back in life by past trauma?
- Are there bad habits you can’t seem to kick that are getting in your way?
- Do you fear you might never find someone to share your life with?
- Do you find it hard to develop and keep closeness and intimacy in a loving relationship?
- Have you lost confidence in your ability to succeed, or do you feel bad about yourself, like you are just not good enough?
“Difficult Roads Often Lead To Beautiful Destinations”
Everyone has times in life in which problems can feel overwhelming. I have gone through times when I felt stuck and overwhelmed. I confided in friends and family, who were supportive, but I needed someone to guide me to understand myself in a deeper way and to find the right answers for myself.
After experiencing the way therapy helped me understand myself and overcome challenges in my life, I became committed to learning to provide people with the same powerful experience I had. I completed my doctorate in Clinical and School Psychology at Adelphi University’s Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies. As part of the Ph.D. program I completed an internship at the Massachussetts Mental Health Center, a training site for Harvard University Medical School.
Over the past 20 years I have helped people of all ages, from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, with very different situations, challenges and problems. I have helped kids in foster care overcome traumatic losses that gave them a rough start in life. I received specialized training in helping people heal from surviving trauma in their lives, including sexual abuse and harassment, bullying, and domestic violence. I have provided psycho-educational evaluations and counseling for pre-school and school-age children through the New York City Department of Education. I spent several years counseling sick and elderly patients in nursing facilities. I worked both in inpatient and outpatient settings with people who suffer from chronic and severe mental illness and have also provided treatment to children and adults with intellectual disabilities and autism. Each of these experiences have taught me important lessons about therapy that I incorporate into the work I do each day in my practice.
I will offer you a safe, supportive place to talk about personal and private thoughts, feelings, and situations in your life without being judged or criticized. I will not impose my values on you or tell you what to do. In order to build trust, I will encourage you to let me know if something I say or do upsets you, and I always try to be open to feedback without getting defensive. Therapy, like every relationship, is a two-way street, and the therapist does not have all the answers. We will need to work together as a team.
I maintain balance in my own life by studying Torah, reading novels, spending time with my wife and our twin girls, and relaxing to my favorite music. I am writing a book to help survivors of sexual abuse heal and to teach parents how to keep their children safe.
I am committed to helping you overcome whatever challenges you are having in your life. Help yourself by calling for an appointment and together we will get you back on track to living the life you want.
