The Sort of Clients and Concerns I Work With
My passion and expertise are in working with people facing hurdles as they navigate around issues of sexuality, identity, and spirituality. A vast number of concerns fall into those broad categories, and so can many types of clients. While my expertise is in working with men, I also work with women, and primarily work with those over eighteen.
Sexuality
Sexual and gender identity is often one of the most complicated areas of my work with clients. Sexuality touches on and melds into so many other parts of ourselves, and things are rarely, if ever, "black and white." I endeavor to make my office a "safe place" for someone to come and process through something that they may not have space for in other relationships or spheres of life. I dig deep with my clients, and we wrestle with the questions involved with sexuality. It may be uncomfortable or challenging, but I will never judge my client based on what they choose to tell me or with what they do in life.
I do a lot of work with clients addressing their sexual or gender identity, and many of my clients identify as LGBT+. I don't engage in any form of reparative or conversion therapy or any treatment that aims or claims to "fix" or remove someone's same-sex attraction, sexual orientation, gender expression, etc. I don't believe that being LGBTQ+ is the result of mental illness or disordered thinking, nor do I believe it is inherently “sinful”.
Other Areas of Work
Grief
Depression
Anxiety
Career and Vocational Exploration
College-aged Concerns
Forgiveness
Life Coaching
Life Transitions
Relationship Issues
Survivors of Abuse
Spiritual Growth
My goal as a therapist is to help clients understand their past and how they developed as a person. This understanding then forms the context for helping them understand how their sexuality developed due to their unique life story. We then work on what all of that means to them and how they want to move forward in life. The goal here is congruence, the idea that who we are as a person aligns with how we live our lives.
My specialization in sex therapy includes a broad range of clients and concerns. While I most often work with concerns centered around sexual and gender identity, I also work with individuals and couples who are concerned with the mechanics of their sex life, and the impact it has on their relationships.
FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY
Faith, spirituality, and religious traditions are an integral part of many people's lives, and for many, it is a tremendous source of strength, healing, and growth. For others, it is a source of pain, baggage, and deep wounds. Many clients come to me wanting to integrate their faith into our counseling work, and others do not. Some want to talk about their religious backgrounds, both the joys and pains – and others do not. Many want to talk about their faith deconstruction, and others about their faith reconstruction. I make space in my work for the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to religion and spirituality, but I do make particular space for those that carry in them the wounds related to religion.