My Background Originally from England where I worked for several years in television and documentary film production at the BBC, I came to live in the San Francisco Bay Area 30 years ago. I completed all my undergraduate and graduate studies here in California. Inspired by my own experience of coming to live in the US, my doctoral dissertation focused on examining how people adjust to coming to live in a new culture. I help expatriates and their spouses through the adjustment process to increase their ability to cope with the stresses of adapting to cultural differences. In addition to my private practice I also work part time in Psychiatry at Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco. Prior to opening my private practice and working at Kaiser, I trained for four years at Family Service Agency where I counseled children, adolescents, adults and couples. I also worked for 2 years at The International High School in San Francisco as a school counselor intern for a diverse body of students providing drop-in counseling, half hour therapy sessions and conjoint meetings with students’ parents. I worked closely with the school faculty to outreach to students who were in need of emotional support. I hold a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA and spent my internship with the college counseling team at The Bay School of San Francisco. My Treatment Approach I use an eclectic approach to therapy fitting the theoretical perspective to the client’s needs. In other words, I use a broad range of approaches: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution Focused, Psychodynamic, Family Systems and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). For instance, I work from a psychodynamic perspective to achieve in-depth understanding of the self by examining childhood experiences to gain insight for emotional growth. The person that we become is very much shaped by childhood experiences and the environment in which we were raised. All these factors play a part in who we are today and how we form relationships with others. Understanding more about ourselves helps us develop better and more fulfilling relationships. For more immediate results I will use a brief therapy approach such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, or (EMDR). These approaches can help people who are suffering from symptoms of depression and anxiety to get back on the road to leading a fully functional life. To help struggling families I will work from a Family Systems approach. For instance, I often am called upon to help a rebellious teenager. However, often times the problematic teenager is a symptom of a family that is not operating in a way that promotes a positive family environment. I help families to rebalance that interaction by teaching families to communicate better, to listen to different points of view and to help provide an environment that enables adolescents to develop autonomy. Whatever the therapeutic approach, I like to collaborate fully with my clients to develop a plan to help them achieve their treatment goals.