My approach to therapy follows a simple format delivered with the utmost respect and enthusiasm. I must earn your trust. This is supposed to help you. My communication style is generally void of jargon, colloquialisms or “psychobabble”. Initially some mutual understanding of the problem must be established. Definition fosters clarity; clarity strengthens meaning; meaning empowers solutions. The goal is for both of us to understand more fully just what it is about your situation that makes it a problem. For many this discussion alone brings a bit of relief. It feels good to be heard and understood. Next is the process of generating effective solutions. Some will discover that the hard work of therapy begins here. One starts to seriously consider what they must do to ameliorate that problem that we began to understand earlier. Then we choose our course of action. This is difficult. I will help you. We will make a plan. We execute the plan. Did it help? Yes, then what do we do next? No, then we decide which previous step we need to refine. There may have been a problem we failed to identify sooner. We have learned something important though. The techniques used are time honored and supported by research and experience. There is a vast amount of resources to explore. Or we make new ones. I received my education from the University of Texas at Austin and was awarded Master of Arts from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1986. I spent over 20 years in an in-patient facility in Texas as an Associate Clinical Psychologist. I have served as therapist to individuals from diverse backgrounds and with unique challenges. Some of the people I have worked with, in an alliance to make their lives at the very least tolerable, are among the coolest and most admirable humans I have ever known. I owe them a lot for the skills I bring here.