Therapists in Pittsburgh, PA

The nature of psychological services to you will depend on your needs. First and foremost, it is important to see if we can establish a good working relationship as it is the best predictor of a good outcome. Your treatment will involve a collaborative effort and will require active work from both of us. My general orientation is psychodynamic. In brief, this type of work involves seeing how past family of origin and developmental factors might be affecting the issues that bring you into therapy and be impinging on your ability to have a more satisfying life.

I offer an interpersonal/psychodynamic approach to working with individuals with anxiety, depression, personality, life and relationship issues.Treatment is personalized to meet each patient's needs. I have been practicing for over 25 years and offer individual, couple, family, psychoanalysis ,and psychodynamic therapy. i also supervise psychiatric residents at Western Psychiatric Institute, teach at the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center,worked in the Family Division of the Courts, and spent 15 years as a professional member of the State Board of Psychology. I will be glad to speak with you regarding your personal issues and answer questions.

We all grow up and live in a society which favors conformity. Not "fitting in" or being "different" can result in feelings of depression, low self-esteem, and isolation which can effect all aspects of our lives. This can be especially true for the LGBTQ population. As a psychodynamic therapist, my goal is to assist you in your personal development from unsatisfying or painful patterns of living and to a life that you can celebrate. While we can't change the past, we can work together to change how it continues to impact your life and resolve challenges and issues that have resulted from it.

Would you like to feel less overwhelmed, anxious, sad, fearful, depressed or unsure of yourself? Are you going through a life transition, dealing with chronic illness, or are unproductive behaviors holding you back? Perhaps you’re unhappy at work/school, experiencing grief/loss, uncertain about your professional goals, or dissatisfied with your relationships. Life issues may seem insurmountable. Once you begin therapy with me, we'll work collaboratively to increase your self-understanding & insight. I'll help you identify & effectuate necessary life changes (step by step), embrace self acceptance, or move toward a little of both.

I have years of experience working with clients struggling with grief, trauma, and depression. I am a member of ASERVIC, with many years of experience and extensive graduate study in religion and spirituality and can integrate values connected with a client's preferred religions and spiritual emphases into all therapeutic approaches. Clients facing life-transitions have greatly benefited from this focussed approach to wellness at every stage of life. I work well with adults of all ages. Older adults have often especially appreciated my counseling orientation. I am also fluent in Spanish and Italian.

People seek therapy when they are in pain. This pain may show up as anxiety, depression, loneliness, compulsive behaviors, addiction or a combination of these. My job as your therapist is to meet you where you are and to understand your experience, your pain, and to help you move forward. The goal is to create a collaboration in which you have the support and safety to begin to challenge thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that may be holding you back and causing suffering. I will guide you in this work with warmth, humor, respect, and acceptance.

Many come to therapy to change patterns of relating to others and themselves that they feel no longer serve them. I believe that these patterns, hard as they may be now, likely played some important role for you in the past. Perhaps addictions, habits, or defenses met otherwise unmet needs in your life, but now have become limiting and compulsive. I see myself as your partner in a process of deep listening, a process which facilitates growth, healing, and new possibilities for relating to your self and others. Specialties and modalities include: Clinical Hypnosis, gender therapy, trauma, addictions. Also see my group therapy option.

Life has many challenges which can sometimes feel overwhelming. My passion is helping others through these moments. I support my clients to feel better and show up in their lives as the people they want to be. My clients learn to build confidence, improve their relationships with themselves and others, and address negative patterns that are holding them back. I see my role as equal parts collaborator, support, and guide for the journey.

As a licensed clinical therapist, I offer a warm and collaborative space for you to freely explore what most troubles you. You may be dealing with depression, anxiety, relationship issues, or changing life circumstances. I am mindful of you as an individual, while also aware of the concurrent forces of family, culture, and social - and how internal and outside pressures can sometimes make change harder. My role is to attend to you with skill, compassion, and without judgment, so that you can more fully be.

I work with people who have experienced trauma or abuse and want to heal from it. I have helped many people suffering from PTSD, dissociation, nightmares, flashbacks, avoidance, dissociation, anxiety, & depression. I strive to help in any way I can, so I use a mix of tools and approaches in my work. I openly share my responses and impressions because I believe I serve you better this way. If sharing my own experiences or learning will help you, I am inclined to do so. I am trained primarily in psychodynamic and EMDR therapy, so these approaches are big part of the work I do. I do both long and short term work. I'm LGBTQ+ allied.

I believe that the therapeutic relationship is at the core of any clinical work. My work initiates from a client centered stance and infuses principles and techniques from psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, and eastern theories and philosophies. Human beings need to be seen, to be heard, to have a sense of connection, and to have a sense of belonging. It is my deepest privilege to offer a therapeutic space where those needs can be met.

The most courageous thing you can do is to begin the journey of understanding your own story. Our past experiences touch nearly every relationship in our lives. Often, despite our best efforts, old unhelpful patterns re-emerge. Our ways of coping with stress and uncertainty become painful and limiting with time. Psychotherapy can be a space to unlearn these harmful patterns and heal past hurtful experiences. I use an eclectic framework for therapy that depends on what my client feels is most helpful, though my roots are in attachment, psychodynamic and EMDR therapies.

I work to establish a supportive and non-judgemental space for clients to focus on healing and connection. I work to emphasize collaboration while recognizing the client as the expert of their own experience. I support my clients with active listening, affirmation, validation, and honesty. We will work together to build upon existing attributes and coping mechanisms and I will work to encourage self-compassion while developing new skills for the present and future. This may include working on setting healthy boundaries, improving communication skills, and/or identifying negative self-talk.

I believe everyone deserves to live a life of authenticity, joy, and personal fulfillment. I am LGBTQ+-affirming, sex-positive, and strengths-focused. My therapeutic style is eclectic, and heavily influenced by attachment theory and contemporary psychodynamic theories, including narrative therapy and parts work. Together, we will explore how your identity, your relationships, the stories you tell yourself, and the stories you have been told about yourself interact with social and historical context to create the life you are living.

I believe meaningful change occurs when people are given the space and support to consider new ways of relating to themselves and their experiences. As a licensed clinical psychologist, my goal is to offer that space and support so that the process of psychotherapy can be as useful to you as possible.

I truly believe that people have the capacity to change, grow, and achieve their full potential within the context of a supportive environment. This belief fuels my work as a therapist. I completed my undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh and received my Masters in Social Work from New York University. I have experience working with an array of identified problem areas including, but not limited to, anxiety, mood disorders, substance abuse, eating/body image, postpartum depression, self esteem and life/developmental transitions.

Are you someone that has a history of struggling to make relationships work, whether it be with friends, family, or intimate partners? Do low mood, racing thoughts, and lack of energy often affect your functioning in day-to-day life? Do you struggle with feelings of worthlessness or not being "enough"? As a therapist, I specialize in supporting adults of all ages who grapple with interpersonal issues, mood concerns, and self-esteem. Together, we'll address these challenges and work towards building fulfilling relationships and improving your overall well-being.

As a psychodynamic, trauma-focused therapist, I can help you process past experiences in a safe environment - working with you to calm the unwanted noise that is anxiety. I can also help you address and resolve the depression that too often obscures our truest selves. Perhaps you’ve experienced a major upheaval or maybe you’re grappling with more subtle, disruptive changes to your day-to-day functioning. Either way, such shifts can be destabilizing, causing us to question core beliefs and ask: Am I even on the right path? New traumas may unfold, and older ones may awaken but we still have a very real need to feel grounded.

I’m interested in working with clients who are in search of deep emotional, mental, and spiritual healing. You can expect our sessions together to consider your past, and to process the impact of those experiences on your present day life. Almost everyone is impacted by distressing or traumatic events that inevitably occur throughout a lifetime, so those experiences will be explored and processed, as well. Our work together will be a blended effort of focusing on what is important to you, and my curiosity and guidance throughout your process.