I’m a professional listener.

As a NYC-based psychotherapist in private practice, I’ve worked with a broad range of individuals and couples who have entered my office wanting to be seen and heard, to heal and to grow. 

Some of the challenges my clients face include anxiety; depression; conflicts with partners, families of origin, and/or children; career dissatisfaction; issues related to identity, gender, and/or sexuality; as well as trauma, grief, and loss. Many of my individual clients are actors and other creative professionals, executives seeking a change, parents, adolescents, members of the LGBTQ+ communities, and a range of people in need of support as they navigate the various relational challenges life presents.

I also work with a lot of couples, helping them to see and hear one another. 

My vocation as a listener has taken many forms.  I was originally trained as an actor and I am currently an author of books and articles on a wide range of subjects related to what it means for each of us to embody our full humanity. My creative experience informs my clinical work, especially in terms of how I listen to each unique client (or scene partner) with whom I work. 

I think of therapy as a luxurious rehearsal process for life; an invitation to connect to who we are, and to discover all that we can be. 

I have received mentorship in relational psychotherapy with psychoanalysts Ken Corbett and Lewis Aron, and I’ve studied family systems, couples therapy and a number of other approaches with distinguished clinicians.  I also offer clinical supervision and teach workshops for therapists on how to use our “instruments”/ ourselves, authentically in session.

I’m the author of the books, The Performing Art of Therapy (Routledge) and Modern Brides & Modern Grooms (Skyhorse Publishing), and I write for Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, among other popular sources, about self-care, gender, sexuality, and the performing art of living.  My clinical writing has been published by Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, among others, and I present my work across the country.

Education
M.S.W. with honors, Silberman School of Social Work 
M.F.A. in Acting, Trinity Rep Conservatory (affiliated with Brown University)

Training
Psychoanalytic Supervision with Ken Corbett, Ph.D
Pscyhoanalytic Study Group with Lewis Aron, Ph.D
Psychoanalytic and Family Systems Supervision with Albert Sbordone, Ph.D
Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples Training with Dr. Sue Johnson

Clinical Experience
Outpatient mental health clinic in Chelsea, Manhattan.
Outpatient mental health clinic in East Harlem.
Outpatient mental health clinic in Forest Hills, Queens
Multi-Medical Service mental health clinic in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Internship at NYC Department for the Aging: counseling victims of elder abuse