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My ultimate goal in life is to turn my past adversities into my greatest strengths. My own personal struggles with depression and substance abuse have been, by far, my most challenging experiences and having overcome depression and substance abuse, my purpose is to help others with similar concerns. Having had these experiences myself, I can relate profoundly to what you are going through and connect with you in a deep, meaningful way.
This is not to say that my experience is your experience; everyone’s story is unique. But there are human experiences that transcend our individual lives and speak to our collective human nature. I understand mental suffering, I understand the mind of the addict and alcoholic…because I have been there. I now fully know that it is possible to move forward and live a life with meaning and joy, and I want to help you to experience the same transformation.
My approach to mental health treatment is holistic in nature; I do not treat a diagnosis, I help people. My methodology in helping you takes into account the number of ways we can foster improvement in your mental health including medication, psychotherapy, and lifestyle choices. While medications can provide significant relief from many mental health struggles, they are often not the sole solution to feeling better.
I am a strong proponent of psychotherapy and I believe in the synergistic benefits of medication and psychotherapy; medication can often ameliorate the symptoms of depression and anxiety while we take on the deeper work involved with psychotherapy. Furthermore, exercise and nutrition, mindfulness and meditation, time in nature, and giving of ourselves through acts of service all add to our sense of connection with the world, ease our anxiety and create an overall sense of well-being.
I take medication management seriously and I am cautious when starting or increasing medications. I always consider opportunities to address symptoms without medication, and when we decide that medications would be helpful, I begin at a low dosage and increase only as needed and never before enough time has passed to truly know what types of improvements that particular medication and dosage can provide. I avoid multiple medications whenever possible and I never change more than one medication at a time to ensure that we learn something from every change in medication.
Many people have come to me for help because they have been prescribed multiple medications and are unable to discern which medications are helpful, which ones could possibly be making symptoms worse, which medications may be causing side effects. They are sometimes even taking additional medications to manage side effects of the original medications. I work closely with people to make strategic, incremental changes in their medications over time to develop a more thoughtful medication regimen that minimizes the dosage and number of medications while keeping symptoms controlled.
I truly believe that we can all learn new patterns of thought, and thought is what drives our behavior. By becoming more closely-aligned with who we truly are, our higher selves, we can live a life of emotional integrity and self-compassion, moving from suffering and isolation to joy and gratitude. I am here to help you on your journey, and being there for you is what brings meaning and purpose into my life.