For over ten years I’ve devoted my career as a psychotherapist to working primarily with LGBT people. I spend about half of my time working with individuals and half my time working with couples. I’ve always wanted to be a therapist (even as a kid) but I waited until midlife to begin graduate school because I knew that life experience was important in the making of a good therapist. Prior to my work as a psychotherapist I worked in management in the Bay Area non-profit sector. A key part of my own training has been my personal experiences and growth as a gay man, and as a man in a relationship for 28 years. (Our dog Emma has also been a great teacher about love.)
I received my M.A. in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University, in 2003. I have a B.A. in Psychology from Vassar College (1984) and I spent my junior year as a Visiting Student in Psychology at Harvard University (1982-83).
My work as a couples counselor is influenced by Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). I have completed an externship with Sue Johnson, the founder of EFT, and I continue to do advanced training with the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. It is one of the most researched forms of couples counseling and has been proven to be one of the most effective.
My work as an individual psychotherapist is influenced by the training I have done with Diana Fosha, the founder of Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP).
I have experience in the AIDS healthcare community and have worked at the UCSF AIDS Health Project, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and the Shanti Project.
Being actively involved in my local LGBT community is important to me. I’m a volunteer for the Horizons Foundation, the Bay Area’s largest foundation focused on supporting LGBT non-profit organizations. I donate 3% of all proceeds from our Center to them. I am also on the Board of Trustees of the Marina Counseling Center, one of San Francisco’s oldest low-fee therapy clinics.
I’m a member of Gaylesta, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Psychotherapists Association of the Bay Area, as well as the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.
I write the articles for the Gay Therapy Center blog, and I'm a relationship advice columnist at Gay.net.
