Personal Statement
The earliest practitioners of psychology used the word “psyche” to label the fascinating, lively, wounded, and resilient inner-worlds of their patients. People often use “psyche” when referring to someone’s mind, with such sub-categories as thoughts, beliefs, and memories. Yet, to the founders of counseling psychology, “psyche” was synonymous with soul. In their minds, and in mine, to be a psychotherapist is to be someone endlessly delighted to work in the domain of the soul. I provide psychotherapy with the perspective that though unwanted behaviors persist, negative thoughts prevail over our minds, and emotions prove too unruly to control, the soul—the deepest part of us—is dynamic and yearning for growth.
The underrecognized truth and hidden beauty of psychotherapy is that it is essentially a conversation. Two humans sit across from each other, one generally is heard and the other generally hears. And the miraculous unfold in this profoundly human and elegantly simple interaction. This is because healing is not a commodity and therapy is not an elixir. Rather, I’m trained to listen deeply, remain infinitely curious, and co-create an authentic connection.
Somewhere in this process, the Divine shows up to sit with us in our brokenness and bring to light the ways in which healing is happening both beneath our noses and with our co-participation
Originally from New England, I live on the west side of Chicago in Little Village. I’m opinionated about pizza (Connecticut objectively has the best pizza on the planet), spend most of my free time playing chess, and have an overwhelming affection for harbor towns and my ‘99 Camry. In addition to completing my M.A. and clinical internship, I’m also a case manager working with ESL students in the immigrant, refugee, and asylee community of Uptown.
