About Me
I became a therapist to help individuals who are suffering from the unrealistic pressures that we face as humans in the 21st century.
After years of doing my best and getting nowhere as an entry level employee at a major corporation, I entered therapy in 2011 to help ease the suffering of working in a high pressure work environment. I found that the immensity of my suffering could be deflated like a balloon, not by running away or ignoring it, but by getting to know what was inside. In 2014, I decided to leave my full-time job as a department manager at a New York grocery chain to pursue a career as a therapist. I returned to college in my 30s to finish an undergrad degree before going on to graduate school to pursue mental health counseling. In the fall of 2021, I opened my private practice.
My approach to therapy is rooted in Internal Family Systems or IFS. What got me interested in IFS therapy is how we all have parts of ourselves that have different opinions about who we are. Some parts act in ways that we know are not who we are. We may damage a relationship with just a quick phrase. We may push ourselves to the brink. We may drink or smoke more than we wish we had. All we are seeking is to have inner peace. But all we do is create the very situation we were trying to avoid. We don't know how we got here but we did it again. What IFS gives clients is a way to get to know the whole system of parts inside them, how to handle the pain, the grief, the joy, the fear. All parts of you are welcome. The angry. The sad. The friendly. The lonely. You are no one single part. But all these parts are you.
Outside of my practice, you can find me cooking (usually low carb and keto meals), softball, weight lifting, and engaging in altered states of consciousness. I am also a proud new father in a multiracial family with my fiancée.
Education and Certifications
Naropa University, Graduate School of Counseling Psychology 2018-2021
M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus in Mindfulness-based Transpersonal Counseling
State University of New York, Purchase College
B.A. in Liberal Studies
Internal Family Systems Therapy, Level 1 Training, May 2023.
Internal Family Systems Therapy, Integrating IFS Across Clinical Applications. November 2021.
Four Corners Group Psychotherapy Association Conference, November 2019, Denver, CO.
Society for Humanistic Psychology Conference, March 2018, Boulder, CO.
Child Certificate Training with Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, October 2015, Oklahoma City, OK.
My Philosophy
When I am working with new clients they are the experts on their lives. Within my client-centered approach, I work with Gestalt and Internal Family Systems (IFS).
GESTALT is a therapeutic modality that intends to help clients by helping them complete the unfinished business of the past so that the past is no longer a distraction to the present moment experience. More simply, it aspires to help clients live more fully right now.
IFS is a therapy that sees the multiplicity in all of us. Each person is made up of parts. As we grow from childhood we develop parts like learning to say "No" to set a boundary or being good when we're actually very angry. Sometimes our parts get stuck in the past. They get burdened by roles they were never meant to take on. IFS sees the self as a system where parts take on roles to create balance in the person. Parts of ourselves can be burdened with roles they were never meant to play. The internal system operates much like a family. One part changing effects all the others. Part of us may like it. Part of us may hate it. But no part is left behind if what we are seeking is wholeness.