Welcome to my practice!
Individual, couples and family therapy
When you struggle with trauma or loss, or you are trapped in the narrow trenches of depression or anxiety, it is no small thing just to survive. I believe that each person has unique gifts to offer the world, and the seeds of those gifts are often found in the struggles that they find themselves in. Therapy allows you to move from merely surviving to thriving, freeing you to bring yourself fully to your relationships, your work, and your life.
I have enormous respect for the courage it takes to be in therapy. It is important to me to create a space where you feel fully seen. I view my role as a guide and mentor in the therapy journey, helping to shine a light on the possibilities that are there within you to live a more satisfying life.
Support for families of children with special needs
When you become a parent, you give birth to all sorts of expectations. Learning that your child has special needs is like putting a pin into this bubble of expectations. You can feel a sense of shock, disappointment and fear, and might have doubts about your ability to parent your child. Your relationship with our partner and with our other children can become more strained. You might isolate ourselves from other parents, because you might feel that they can’t really appreciate what you’re going through.
You have even less time for yourself. And when you aren’t feeling balanced, it’s even harder to be there for your child.
Surviving and Thriving puts the focus on you, the parent, because when you are thriving, your children will benefit as well. We invite you to find support and inspiration in our workshops and support groups. We also provide coaching as well as individual, couples and family therapy. We also provide support for other members of the family, including grandparents!
A Different Kind of Spring Cleaning
Every spring, I resolve to get rid of clutter: kitchen utensils we no longer use, clothes that don’t fit my kids anymore, old toys, catalogues…all of that stuff that only serves to get in the way of finding everything else. When I take some action, I am always amazed...
Facing a New Piece of the Puzzle
As my son grows older, that omnipresent symbol of autism, the puzzle piece, seems ever more appropriate. The word “puzzle” becomes both noun and adjective, suggesting not only the questions, but also the sense of uncertainty, and even outright frustration, for those...
Necessity is the Mother of Vacation…oops, Invention: Letting go and learning from it
It’s summer and the weather is glorious. The season conjures up the quintessential images of relaxation, such as lying in a hammock with a cool drink at arm’s length. But just try to pair that picture with a couple of rambunctious kids running around, and you...
The Organizationally-Challenged Parent: A new look at what order really means
I just made my go-to eggplant recipe, given to me by an old friend. Here it is: 1. Buy beautiful purple eggplant in store. 2. Place eggplant in refrigerator. 3. Find eggplant a month later when it is brown and withered. 4. Throw eggplant away. As you might have...
Lessons Learned From Winter
We just had another blast of winter and school is closed again. My kids are ecstatic. I am a little less enthusiastic. To be honest, winter is not one of my favorite seasons. The cold and darkness can easily dissolve my motivation to get up as early as I’d like...
Holiday Self-Care: Being present is a gift
Holiday time is usually no picnic for parents of kids with special needs. Our children often don’t do well with changing schedules and traveling. Friends and family members can be inadvertently critical or insensitive to our burden, and miss our child’s unique...
Social Skills 101: Just breathe
When I can take a breath instead of springing into action, when I can just allow things to happen, my son gets a chance to shine just as he is.
Surviving the Holidays: Adventures in changing expectations
In trying to bring some sanity to the holidays, I’ve learned an important lesson about the downside of making expectations. And I have come to see the intrinsic value of appreciating the way things are as opposed to clinging to the way things should be.
Reflections on Surviving and Thriving: Acknowledging our feelings
To ignore our feelings is akin to sweeping things under the rug; things might look all right on the surface, but sooner or later you are bound to trip over the bump.