*** OCTOBER 2019: I am not presently taking new clients. *** Whether you're dealing with depression, anxiety, family or relationship concerns, grief, or other life transitions, I would be honored to join you as we explore the possibilities and limitations you experience in your life.

How can I get over feelings of sadness, loss, or low self-esteem? Why do I often feel stuck, without any energy or desire? Is it possible for me to change long-standing patterns that have caused problems over many years? My focus in therapy is to help clients confront such questions, in order for them to gain insight and break repetitive patterns of suffering. As they gradually free themselves to explore and share, they begin to find new ways to deepen relationships, engage in more meaningful and productive work, transition to a new stage in life, or come to a new appreciation of themselves.

Many people are stuck. They cannot either make decisions or make decisions that do not help them move forward. This is like a bad Groundhog Day movie. Ineffective decision-making creates stuckness and futility. As founder of Three Worlds, I am dedicated in helping individuals to develop a practice of efficient decision-making. I work collaboratively with individuals in strengthening their ability to form decisions that increase life's happiness.

Dr. Lerner completed his graduate training at the SUNY Albany Center for Stress & Anxiety Disorders, and the Boston University Center for Anxiety & Related Disorders where he was involved in the research and treatment of panic disorder, agoraphobia, and specific phobia using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). After his graduate training, Dr. Lerner completed a post-Doctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Following his fellowship, Dr. Lerner became a staff psychologist at MGH and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, where he has been for the past 10 years.

What stands between you and your Happiness ? I welcome you to work as we develop trust and explore what is getting in the way of your experiencing a more satisfying life. I have been privileged to work with children and adults with a wide variety of family history which often plays a part in how we develop as adults. Using many different tools adjusted to your individual needs. Mindfulness, CBT, and more. If your feeling lonely, stuck, depressed, anxious, W COVID 19 many of us have a whole new set of fears and real issues regarding work, health, elderly parents. I have specialized and trained w ADD, Depression, Trauma, Anxiety.

The premise of psychotherapy is that every crisis presents an opportunity for growth and change. Against this backdrop, psychotherapy is an adventure of insight unique for every person, whether the reason for seeking treatment is a current stressor or the wish to be free from longstanding dysfunctional patterns that interfere with fulfillment in the spheres of love, work and play.

I am a psychologist & psychoanalyst with more than 25 years of outpatient and hospital based experience. I provide individual and couples therapy for clients struggling with the full range of interpersonal and emotional issues that bring people into treatment. Active compassionate listening designed to get to the root causes of my clients' pain and suffering is at the heart of my work. I trained and worked at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts for many years and completed psychoanalytic training at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute where I am now on the faculty. Wit and warmth also come in handy.

A wise doctor once wrote: "It is more important to understand the person who has an illness than the illness a person has." This is even truer for emotional problems than physical ones. Likewise, without understanding the context -- a person's life and family, past and present -- one cannot really begin to know the person. I have worked for many years with teenagers, men and women of all ages with addictions, family and relationship conflict, and the universal problems of depression and anxiety. Certainly there are commonalities among the problems they present, but it is the uniqueness of each of my clients that leads to change.

As a classically trained psychologist, I view my work as a blend of art and science. My patients are generally competent, loving people who are struggling with painful issues related to relationships, sexuality, life changes, work and other stressful situations. Many also suffer from situational or long-standing feelings of depression, anxiety or inadequacy. All are motivated to make meaningful change. My style is open, relational, and collaborative, and my approach is based on decades of experience and a fundamental understanding that no two people are alike. Therapy focuses on both on symptom relief and personal growth.

NOT CURRENTLY ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS. People often seek psychotherapy when they feel overwhelmed and have reached a breaking point. They want to feel more grounded in who they are and the choices they make. Therapy offers a dedicated space to identify, understand and eventually transform painful experiences that have lead to suffering and frustration. I practice a form of therapy that prioritizes the relationship between client and therapist and to that end I am committed to creating a trusting, collaborative and open-minded atmosphere where you can come to know yourself more fully.

We all long for our experiences, feelings, and needs to be seen, recognized, and honored. I bring to our work deep respect for your and/or your child’s concerns and suffering. I place the therapeutic relationship at the heart of our work, which I approach with curiosity and empathy. I am most interested in what your unique experience is, and I aim to listen deeply. A safe-enough space will help us to transform your patterns of experience that interfere with your ability to be compassionate with yourself, to build meaningful relationships, and to work and play creatively, in other words, to live a fulfilling life.

Clients who choose to work with me tend to feel that they could benefit from deep inquiry into existing problems and their origins. I will support you as you develop greater insight into where you feel trapped, hurt or inhibited, and together, we will figure out how to alleviate your pain. We may also draw on our interactions as a source for learning about old, repetitive patterns that are no longer useful, in order to enact creative possibilities for change and connection. I will encourage self understanding so that you can use it to make different choices, pursue goals, and feel more in control of how you want to live your life.

I believe whole-heartedly in each person's capacity to heal, and I work collaboratively with my clients. My work connects people with their strengths, their creativity and with their internal healing systems so that they can make the kinds of changes they want to make. My clients utilize the insights they discover and the tools they learn in our sessions to create more peace and joy in their lives.

I enjoy working with individuals/couples that want to move forward in their lives in some way or want to make a change, whatever that means for them. I am here for those who need someone consistent to talk to or for people who have a very specific goal in mind. If you are feeling hesitant or you are not ready yet, please check out some resources here: https://www.clairestherapycorner.com . **Please note that unfortunately I do not hold evening appointments, and I am only accepting new clients for EMDR therapy.**

2/21 -FULL You're thriving professionally. Yet your anxiety is off the charts. You feel weighed down by bodily sensations or emotions that seem to come out of nowhere. You’re particularly anxious around loved ones. In contrast to your values, you prioritize work over time with family. A part of you suspects something from the past is playing a role in this daily struggle. Sometimes you imagine utter catastrophe: your hypertension will lead to a stroke and devastate your earning power, or you'll explode in anger at the people closest to you. Whatever the imagined fear, you're convinced that ultimately your loved ones will leave you.

I believe in the power of talking and the therapeutic relationship to help my clients better understand their inner worlds and cope with the complicated realities of life. Together, we strive to draw meaningful connections that can ultimately lead to personal fulfillment and successful relationships. My work is informed by psychodynamic concepts — exploring how the unconscious and early experiences may impact one's emotions and relationship dynamics. I emphasize collaboration and open dialogue about our process together, and use a social justice lens to acknowledge the ways in which systems of oppression contribute to suffering.

Are you struggling to make a decision? Indecision is one of many common concerns I can help people with. I see people with relationship concerns, career concerns, self-esteem/self-confidence concerns, stress and worry, sadness, and loss and grief. I can help with challenging life transitions and increase self-knowledge and insight. I am told that I am "approachable" and "practical".

Do you need a change? Trying to get back on track or go beyond where you have been? I am a cross-cultural and bilingual (Spanish-English) therapist who strives to provide specific skills to unique backgrounds and situations. Do you feel misunderstood, devalued or excluded? Do you have enough emotional supports? Are you culturally different, dealing with more than one culture or ethnicity? Do you want to enhance your performance and learn to be more effective in a cross-cultural environment? My aim is to create a welcoming and non-judgmental environment to explore and actively pursue your emotional, personal, and professional growth.

If you are entering mid-life or beyond, 40 years or older, and feel the need to address the transitional challenges that accompany this time of life, then I may be the therapist for you. Together we will explore the issues that are arising for you and seek to fashion answers to the physical, psychological, emotional, and relational questions you are facing and asking yourself.

My practice is less about diagnosis and more about the person. I work from an attachment based lens and through the therapeutic relationship I focus on helping people to share how they are feeling and to help them connect more meaningfully with other people, have a clearer sense of who they are, and find meaning and purpose in their lives. I want my clients to feel more at peace and more comfortable in their own skin. All of us have things that we don’t know about ourselves that still impact our lives and our relationships. They can limit us and cause us pain.