Over the past three decades, I've primarily come to view my role as a consultant on life issues, a coach and a guide. I prefer understanding people's struggles within the context of their complicated lives, rather than labeling them with some mental disorder (a common practice in the field of psychotherapy). Unlike the medical model, I prefer focusing on emotional and spiritual health, as well as prevention, rather than pathology and brokenness. I believe that optimism is an essential ingredient for a healthy life.
Many of the complaints, pains and hardships that trouble the average person don't stem from deep-seated problems, defective genes, or chemical imbalances. A complex interplay of bio-psycho-social factors shape our lives. Hence, emotional healing must be approached from a holistic perspective. Self-knowledge is a pathway to wisdom, freedom and happiness.
I prefer not to work with insurance companies, especially managed care organizations unless they are respectful of the clients' right to privacy (confidentiality), and the right of doctors and clients to jointly determine how treatment should proceed. Most managed care plans pre-determine and control the length of treatment. When therapy is micromanaged by a company focused on cost containment, treatment suffers.
My main concern with managed care organizations is the absence of client privacy. Managed care organiza-tions require psychotherapists to provide written reports (OTR's) of intimate details about clients' lives and to mail or fax this information to clerks. It is frightening to realize that clients' personal lives are logged into large company computers. Once entered into the computer, highly sensitive information may easily end up on national data banks (i.e. Medical Information Bureau), sold for profit, or indiscreetly shared with your employer.
When you access your health insurance to pay for psychotherapy treatment, your treatment records could potentially compromise your ability to get future medical, disability, or long-term care insurance.
Despite newer HIPAA laws it has been documented that legal or illegal access to client records is almost impossible to control. I am fully committed to the privacy of my clients and will not cooperate with immoral or dangerous insurance company policies. When you pay out-of-pocket for services, there is no records of therapy in the Medical Information Bureau that could negatively effect your future.
You should know that many managed care insurers do not pay for couples or group therapy.
Many couples come to consult with me at times of crisis, or when they fall out of love (into reality) and they are not sure if they want to remain married. My first commitment is to help couples stay together and teach them how to love and be loved better. Hopefully, with help, they can turn the marriage around to a mutually enhancing relationship where each person is respected, honored, and celebrated by the other.
In healing a love-depleted marriage, we discover how each person has contributed to "falling out of love." The dance between the lovers must be changed to restore intimacy. I also believe it is the moral obligation of parents with children to try to save the marriage by going to counseling before they file for divorce. If this fails, divorcing with decency must be the second commitment. Children are the future of our world and we must provide them with stable, consistent, loving caretakers who remain committed to raising them long after a divorce is finalized.
I offer premarital counseling for couples prior to their engagement or marriage. This is an exciting opportunity for couples to map the hopes and concerns that lie ahead. It is the perfect time to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each person, expectations they have for a spouse, parenting desires, spiritual needs, financial expectations, etc. in an open and realistic manner. I believe the art of loving requires commitment and self-discipline. In premarital counseling, couples learn that all important relationships require daily nurturance to thrive.
In summary, most people can live, love, and enjoy their work/life better through the process of consul-ting an expert from time to time. In an era when community and extended family ties are weakened and holders of wisdom have lost their traditional rolls, my mission is to contribute to the collective psychological/spiritual health and education of individuals and the community at large. I help people, one person at a time, discover and move toward fully living their life purpose and dreams.
