Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender IssueS

I am an openly gay therapist with decades of experience working with the LGBTQ community on such issues as:

• coming out
• societal discrimination
• family rejection
• living with fear of physical harm
• sexual compulsion
• codependence
• internalized homophobia
• self-medication
• living with HIV/AIDS
• coping with other health issues

Resolution & Healing of Trauma

If you are a survivor of trauma, you need a safe, gradual way to develop your natural ability to regulate and discharge high levels of energy arousal caused by overwhelming events. You can learn to employ the awareness of body sensation to "renegotiate" and heal your trauma instead of reliving it. Once you can discharge excess activation, you will most likely experience a dramatic reduction in or disappearance of trauma symptoms.

Blindness & Visual Impairment

Before becoming a psychotherapist, I taught blind and visually impaired children for 26 years in New York City public schools. I am well acquainted with the various issues of self-esteem common to blind and visually impaired people. If you've taken on negative attitudes about being blind or visually impaired, you can learn to move beyond mere acceptance of who you are. Instead, you can learn to enjoy and appreciate who you are in the world.

Career Issues in the Corporate World

If you work for a corporation, you may be struggling to be true to yourself in an environment that requires you to conform to corporate norms. You don't want to leave your spontaneity and individuality at the door. When looking for a therapist, you want someone who understands and supports your need to be your own person and who can help you live a life that has deep meaning for you.

Couples Therapy

If you are a partner in a troubled relationship, you are probably suffering from the effects of mutual alienation. You will want a therapist who won't take sides and who will understand how both of you may be feeling deprived, trapped, and desperate. You want a therapist who can provide a safe space in which you can try out healthier behavior with one another. You can experience the mutual healing of old wounds that have led to your current relationship problems.

DIGITAL OVERUSE

Is overuse of technology causing your life to become out of balance? Are you depressed and anxious about the amount of time you waste online? Do you use your smartphone to avoid those feelings? Do you have difficulty being present with your thoughts, experiences, and sensations? Is being present in the moment too painful?  Do you dread being cut off form the online world? Do you seek out online “friends” instead of actual friends? Do you feel disengaged from yourself and others? Do you become involved in chronic checking and feel that you are not able to stop? Is the hunt, the chase, the thrill more compelling than actually getting what you want?

You can learn how becoming more grateful, compassionate, and connected, and lead a more meaningful life. You can enhance your emotional well-being, increase your happiness, and improve your physical health. You can restore your capacity to be in the present moment, whether the present moment is pleasant or not.

Career Issues in the Arts

You will benefit from working with a therapist who has personally experienced the difficulties of being a creative artist, and who has worked with musicians, actors, directors, playwrights, authors, poets, photographers, painters, and graphic artists. Your issues will probably include:

• supporting yourself financially
• staying focused
• sustaining faith in your talents
• supporting yourself emotionally in the face of indifference or rejection

Life Purpose Coaching

Discover how to contribute to the world in ways that use your whole self fully and that give your life passion, fulfillment, and meaning through dedication to something larger than yourself. Take action toward the realization of your vision, goals, and desires. Through a process of inquiry and personal discovery, develop awareness, initiative, and responsibility. Become involved in problem solving, strategic planning, action steps, and motivation.

Interactive Group Therapy

Interactive group therapy can provide an exciting and powerful journey into psychological healing and personal growth through relationship with other group members. Instead of just talking about how you relate to others, you can learn from your interactions with other group members in the moment. By bonding with other group members, you can gain a sense of community often missing in our fragmented, alienated world. Engaging in group work can help you enhance personal qualities such as awareness, trust, acceptance, compassion, appreciation, courage, initiative, involvement, intimacy, and responsibility.