In-person therapy in Bellaire. Online therapy for all of Texas.
Facing anxiety, insomnia, OCD, depression, or significant life stress? You deserve a safe space for practical, research-supported guidance.
With over 40 years of experience as a Clinical Psychologist, my approach is warm, collaborative, and focused on non-invasive, less medication-oriented treatment. We build on your natural strengths using a combination of effective, brain-based approaches and talk therapy.
We start with a thoughtful assessment of your history and challenges, then develop a personalized plan to bring you relief.
I work with adults of all ages, with a special focus on older adults navigating big transitions (grief, role changes, health stress). Whatever you’re carrying, we work toward clarity, relief, and renewed hope.
I focus on discovering your strengths and providing you with the tools to harness your own power, even if you’re unaware of it. I stand by your side as you make these difficult decisions and changes. No one said it would be easy or quick and it isn’t. That’s why an experienced guide is so important. We begin with you and end with a better version of you.
We all come to a place in life where we are overwhelmed or stuck in a spot we feel we can’t get out of. Getting help allows us to move on and become productive in our lives again.
I think I’m finally getting good at it after all these years. My clients have taught me a lot.
Have you heard the good news about mental health and psychotherapy? It’s no longer “One size fits all”. When we work together, I will draw from a variety of therapeutic approaches to create a plan that is unique to you.
We will select approaches that address your experiences and your goals. These may include:
and other modalities to meet your needs and goals.
Our science has advanced a quantum leap since we discovered and refined how to harness the power of the brain to help you. Through the prism of the brain, we now understand how to help you:
Within the space and comfort of the psychotherapy relationship, all these and more are possible now with the use of newer techniques. Personal one-to-one therapy is still the core of a healing relationship, but in addition, we offer these newer evidence-based techniques which have shown great promise in healing at a deeper level:
In 2010, after being in practice for many years, I was awarded the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s mini-fellowship to study advanced techniques in the treatment of insomnia at Duke University’s Sleep Medicine Clinic.
I continue to be a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and treat insomnia with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, a non-invasive alternative to medication that is considered by the academy’s research to be the gold standard of care for insomnia, as well as neurofeedback.
In 2018, I joined two other practicing psychologists to form a company www.newpathwaysneurofeedback.com for the study and practice of neurofeedback, a 40-year-old scientifically studied method of training brain waves using the EEG to treat worry and anxiety, depression, stress, insomnia, post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) and other common mental health problems. This pleasant, non-invasive form of treatment requires minimal effort on the part of the patient to gradually teach the brain to function in more optimal states that sustain its capacity to operate at its best level of functioning.
In my early work, I was a social worker at a psychiatric clinic, helping married couples and families with teenage children. Then an opportunity came along to become a psychologist and study how individuals learn, and don’t learn, and how to use research to know which ways of helping work. Memory, cognition, attention, and the brain were important parts of this study.
The world turned when we learned that we’d been wrong about the brain and that it continued to grow and change into adulthood if we just learned how to use it. This was not only the Age of Aquarius but the “Third Age,” in which we learned to re-do life as we move into middle age and transition into adulthood, what many referred to as “re-packing your bags” and re-doing your “place at the fire.”
What I’m specially trained in is sleep problems – insomnia, jet lag, and circadian rhythm disorders. I spent months studying with experts at the Duke University Sleep Medicine Clinic cutting-edge ways to identify and fix your sleep problems, which affect a host of other issues like depression, anxiety, weight gain, and numerous other physical illnesses. Hot off the press this month is research that points to good sleep as the number one way to prevent Alzheimer’s. Can you believe it? I can. I’ve seen what good sleep can do for people who haven’t had it.
In the last six years, another way of helping came into my life through a colleague and friend. As a helping person, this was and still is the best thing since sliced bread!! This newer, more scientifically-based way of helping people treats the brain directly and without the side effects of medicines and is long-lasting. It’s called neurofeedback. Based on brain maps and your EEG and with the ease of watching a movie, your brain waves can gradually be trained to change depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and brain injuries, and to enhance your well-being. It is especially effective with ADHD and attention problems, both in adults and children. Many hours of training and years of doing this have not dampened my enthusiasm for helping through the brain.
Let’s join together and get your life on the track you desire and deserve. I invite you to call for an initial appointment or fill out the contact form and click Send to discover if I can be of assistance to you.