Psychotherapist

I entered therapy as a client in 1976 at the ripe ol age of 24 in order to fix some things in my first marriage. Many therapists (Jungian, Adlerian, Family Systems, Bioenergetics, EMDR, Hypnotherapy, TA, Redecision and CBT) and years later I've now changed myself in fundamental and profound ways since that time, and am to this day keenly interested in moving myself towards fuller expression of what it is to be a human being incarnated on the planet Earth.

At the same time, I became intensely interested in the actual technology of personal growth and human potential. Although that subject was not the focus of my career, it was a significantly important and rewarding activity and I invested countless hours reading, taking courses, workshops, and practicing new skills and ideas. I taught interpersonal skills workshops, and conflict resolution classes for eight years closing the 1980s.

I was continuously interested in what techniques and skills, what philosophies and belief systems my various therapists made use of in working with me or the other clients in group therapy situations. Gradually, by 1993 and age 41 I recognized that my level of interest and my layperson expertise was uncommon and that perhaps I could contemplate a career change.

In 1994 I wound up my computer company and began training as a Transactional Analysis psychotherapist, completing that contract in October 1996. I opened a private psychotherapy practice in November.

Credentials:  Getting credentialed can be a good training process but it doesn't mean much if the therapist hasn't done his or her own personal work. A person who's been down to the dark places of their life, who's mucked around up close and personal with depression, anxiety, panic attack, rage, despair, addiction, sexual abuse, and their siblings makes a far better therapist than the one who's only been a tourist to those swamplands of humanity. I respect a therapist who bears the scars of wounds healed by his or her cohorts and colleagues. I don't want a voyeur as a therapist, I want a blooded veteran. I don't want a scholar, researcher, dilettante or academic for a therapist, I want someone who knows from the gut what the landscape feels like down there in the stink. That is why the better training programs demand that trainees practice on each other! So when a new client says to me 'how do you know this' I say because I've been there, here's my experience of what you're going thru.

As for official training and skills: I've been trained in Transactional Analysis and am about 100 hours short of the 2000 required for certification. I will achieve that by 2008. I'm certified as a Redecision Therapist. I'm trained and certified as a Cognitive Behavior Therapist, by the Cleveland Centre of Cognitive Therapy. I am a Certified Nurtured Heart Approach practitioner.

OK, that's enough about me. If you are interested in changing your life in some manner, and you either want a referral to a therapist in your area, or you want to engage with me as your Psychotherapist, send me an email.