I’m a therapist who helps individuals, couples, and families explore how their present and past experiences, ingrained assumptions, and environmental factors impact their struggles and stand in the way of a healthier, more fulfilling life. Before becoming a therapist, I studied Applied Economics at Cornell University and worked at Microsoft for seven years. I was drawn to economics out of a curiosity about decision-making and the internal and external incentives that drive people’s behavior and thought. After obtaining a Master’s degree from Yeshiva University, I also served as a behavioral scientist and program designer, building curricula for mental health programs. These experiences give me a unique clinical perspective on how cultural conditioning, conscious and unconscious biases, trauma, and sometimes, simply the paths of least resistance contribute to choices and patterns of behavior. These influences can cause people to lose sight of alternative ways of being. I help individuals, couples, and families uncover what lies at the root of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that guide their lives and choose how they want to move forward in order to grow.
I have previously helped individuals through a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, parenting, grief, life transitions, creative blocks, and relationship conflicts. No matter the challenge that brings a person into therapy, what is most essential is my ability to build a relationship in which a patient can feel safe to be vulnerable and discuss the most difficult experiences and subjects. I understand that vulnerability can produce fear and anxiety. However, on the other side of confronting these fears and anxieties is not only the knowledge that individuals do, in fact, survive, but they can also emerge stronger with more self-confidence and positive change. This work isn’t easy, and the rewards are not always clear in the moment. I employ playfulness and humor as therapeutic tools that can help clarify feelings, make them less threatening and intense, and reframe a difficult situation to engage with it differently.
In couples therapy and family therapy, expectations, norms, both implicit and explicit, and communication styles can strongly contribute to conflict. I help romantic partners and family members understand their place as a separate person within a system of a couple or family, and the role each person plays in an unhelpful dynamic. I encourage couples and families to listen and react with more empathy by setting mutual goals to respond to one another without blame so that all parties feel heard and seen. When everyone in the room maintains self-awareness about how they interact with one another, couples and families can better observe what emotions are involved and discuss the origins of these feelings.
Teens and young adults are naturally curious with a strong desire to fit in. From my prior work with teens and young adults, I understand how encouraging authentic self-expression and allowing teens to just be themselves without the expectations of parents or other adults can be truly transformative. I am also aware of the time and effort it takes to build a meaningful rapport with adolescents. I cultivate a sincere relationship with teens in which the work feels voluntary rather than forced. Most teens come into therapy experiencing adults telling them what to do. I strive for teens to feel as if they have ownership over their therapy so that they can better see the outcome of the work as being for their benefit.
pronouns: he/him (why I list my pronouns)