Demystify myself

Hi there, I am an MFT with a background in Holistic Medicine.   I did not grow up with psychotherapy around me; it was my career as a holistic health practitioner that led me to the field.  During the seven years as a practitioner, I was continually struck by the connection between physical and psychological issues.  I would be working on someone’s physical ailments and they would begin to speak to me with great emotion and insight.  From common anxiety stuck in one’s shoulders to deep-seated trauma stored in their lower back, it became obvious that I was only working on the physical manifestations of a deeper imbalance.  In this way, my work with the body led to my current work with the mind. 

As such, I start with the assumption that my clients are dynamic beings with mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects all of which require attention.  I work with various populations from an approach best described as warm and empathic, yet intersubjective and straightforward.  I have studied many modalities and theories from Psychoanalysis and Object Relations to Transpersonal and Hakomi.  I’m not one to subscribe to one category; I study schools of technique and thought and I use what feels intuitive in the moment.

Colleagues in consultation groups have jokingly said that my style is very east coast.  That would make sense, as I grew up on the east coast.  I will say that I have a strong commitment to not just sympathizing for the sake of staying comfortable.  This type of treatment could easily lead to enabling.  Hence, I try my best to call my clients on their blind spots regardless of the temporary waves it might create.  As for ethnicity, my father is from the island of Sri Lanka and mother (half-Italian and half-Ukranian in heritage) is from the island of New York City. 

In addition to my career as a psychotherapist, I am also a musician and fiction writer.  I encourage clients to find creative outlets to give the inexpressible an outlet for expression.