I strongly believe that therapy must create lasting change. Whether I'm doing career counseling, more traditional talk therapy, or hypnotherapy work, it is important to me that my clients leave the office with new resources that enable them to create the change that they want in their lives.
The son of American parents, I grew up overseas, mostly in Beirut, Lebanon and Tehran, Iran, and also spent significant time in other Middle East countries, as well as India, Belgium, and Italy. My childhood overseas and my experiences growing up as American outside of the US continues to have a strong impact on me.
In 1983 I graduated from Wake Forest University and received my graduate degree in counseling from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado in 1994. My studies at Naropa included the traditional coursework in counseling skills and theory, and also incorporated class work and experiential work in Buddhist psychology, exploring how contemplation and meditation can inform and deepen traditional Western psychotherapy techniques.
After graduating, I moved to New York City and there worked at Payne Whitney — Westchester, and then for the American Red Cross as a senior supervisor at their Manhattan Emergency Family Center on 42nd Street. Both places gave me ample opportunity to work with crisis and trauma, as well as deepen my skills in assessment, individual, and group work.
In 1996 I moved to Washington DC and became the Director of Social Services for Miriam’s Kitchen. During that time, I began seeing clients in the evening, and began to build my private practice. In 2003 I began to see clients full time, and am very happy to say that I find deep satisfaction in my work.
