DESCRIPTION OF CLINICAL PRACTICE
In private practice since 1976, I work with adults, couples, families, children and adolescents. Over the course of the past 25 years, I've developed a special interest in couples therapy and in helping individuals with relationship problems. I'm also interested in integrating Buddhist wisdom and Western psychology. I'm currently influenced by a therapeutic approach called "narrative". The narrative approach resonates with much of Buddhist thinking, for example, cautioning us to not hold our ideas about ourselves or others as "truth". This is especially important since we live in a culture which assumes that everyday life problems are caused by our "inadequacies" or "deficiencies." There is no recommended frequency of sessions in narrative therapy, so people are encouraged to schedule appointments in whatever way works for them.

VIPASSANA/MEDITATION BACKGROUND
I first became interested in Buddhism in 1990, listening to tapes by Jack Kornfield. I knew he was a psychologist and was listening to the tapes in this spirit. I found what he said to be so extraordinarily wise and wondered why I'd never heard his school of psychological thought before. Finally it dawned on me: Jack was not espousing a new psychological theory, but talking of Buddhism. Since then, I've developed a daily sitting practice including vipassana, metta, tonglen and prayer. I began to sit retreats, on a regular basis, in 1998. Since 2000, my primary teacher has been Tara Brach. I'm also deeply influenced by Pema Chodron and Ken McLeod and inspired by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, by Suzuki Roshi and by Tenzin Palmo. I'm indebted to my first teacher, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor. Recently, I've been drawn to the style of vipassana practice taught by Sayadaw U Tejaniya.

RELEVANT CLINICAL TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
I received my PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan in 1974, where I was trained in psychodynamically oriented, child and adult therapy. Since then, I've studied many different schools of therapy, including: Gestalt, psychodrama, strategic and systemic family therapy, Ericksonian hypnotherapy and EMDR. My years of professional practice, and perhaps more importantly, my years of meditation practice have taught me to privilege peoples' experience of what's helpful over what any theory says should be helpful. Exemplifying this is a favorite quote by Lama Yeshe, “Whether we sit with our arms folded this way and our legs crossed that way is of little consequence. But is extremely important to check and see if whatever meditation we do is an actual remedy for our suffering.”