Philosophy and Bio

The core of my counseling and coaching philosophy is that each client is a unique individual who will need something different from me. This means I take the time to learn your tendencies and ways of perceiving. I don’t jump to conclusions or make assumptions about your worldview. In session, I often ask clarifying questions to ensure I properly understand your perspective. This type of approach is especially important when working with multi-cultural clients whose worldview is inevitably quite different from my own.

I also believe that the primary goal of counseling or coaching is to make concrete, measurable changes. I work hard to both learn the depths of my client’s stories and also to ensure that they are getting something tangible out of our sessions. I help my clients set goals and define how to measure them, then I celebrate changes both big and small.

I provide support, encouragement, and shine a light upon often overlooked strengths. People, on a whole, are far more powerful and resilient than they generally give themselves credit for.

I consider my work to be holistic. This means I’m always taking into consideration the psychological, sociological, physical, and spiritual aspects of my client’s realities. Each of these things synergizes and when one is off the whole system tends to go out of whack. If need be I will refer clients to other health professionals so they can treat their issues and ailments from multiple angles.

While it’s crucial that we make connections between the past and present as a means to understand the origins of your behaviors I believe that our primary focus needs to be in the here and now. Often, when we are wounded, our current experience mirrors the past. Thus, our work will not focus exclusively on the past since the present is already mirroring that time. 

Perhaps the most important tenet of my counseling philosophy is that each client needs to feel that they are working with someone unbiased whom they deeply trust. With all my clients I strive to create an environment of neutrality, safety, and confidentiality because it is in this atmosphere that true change and growth are nurtured to full expression.

By way of methods, I am highly integrative. I weave together a compassionate ACT based approach that is grounded in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, ego-state therapy, IFS (internal family systems) therapy, psychodynamic and humanistic therapies and is infused with mindfulness, body-centered awareness, EMDR trauma therapy, and hypnotherapy.

As a coach, I use the momentum coaching method.

This means I help clients set goals, bring action plans to fruition, define success, focus and stay the course, celebrate achievements, and explore barriers holistically. 

 

Boston, Massachusetts Skyline

A Brief Bio

I was born in 1984 and raised in a small suburb just outside of Boston, Massachusetts in the USA. I’ve always been fascinated by stories, relationships, and the behavioral patterns that define them, which was further fostered during my undergraduate degree in English Literature.

Years later I lived abroad in South Korea and Russia as an expatriate teacher. These experiences provided me with insight into the complexities of being a culturally displaced individual in relation to society, family, and intimate relationships. The difficulties I watched my students and their family’s deal with greatly spurred my interest in becoming a psychological counselor.

During my Master’s training, I worked in an outpatient hospital setting with individuals struggling with severe psychological disorders and substance abuse. I’ve also counseled college-age students coping with anxiety, depression, issues of self-esteem, and ADHD. In these settings, I provided therapy for individuals, couples, families, and groups.

More recently, I’ve been in private practice for the last five years in Zürich. For three of those years I’ve worked as a freelance therapist with Paracelsus Recovery, a bespoke mental health clinic and rehabilitation center located on lake Zürich. 

In my free time I pursue a number of creative hobbies including collage art, creative writing, playing violin and piano, and amateur music production. I also enjoy reading, exploring and deepening my knowledge of different genre’s of music, learning German, exercising, being in nature, and spending quality time with family and friends. 

For information on my credentials and training please click here