I am a clinical psychologist, and I have conducted my private practice in Arcata and Eureka, California since 1985. I have been licensed as a psychologist in California since 1981, and previously practiced in Redding, California. I also worked at the Humboldt State University Counseling and Psychological Services, Humboldt Family Service Center, Catholic Community Services, and the Humboldt County Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Program.
I have learned many different approaches to psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, and I strive to tailor what I do for each of my clients, using whatever seems to be the best fit for their concerns, personality and preferences. As I have specialized in working with anxiety and related disorders, and I have learned and observed the evidence-based efficacy of certain methods (especially, cognitive-behavioral therapy) for these issues, I have come to prefer these methods when they fit a client. However, my work draws from the decades of learning and practice that I describe below.
Education
A.B. in Psychology (magna cum laude), Princeton University, 1975
In addition to more mainstream psychological study, in college I began studying altered states of consciousness and "paranormal" experiences. I conducted research on mental experiences during the onset of sleep and was a research assistant to Julian Jaynes, who studied the history of psychology and consciousness. By my sophomore year I realized I would like to become a psychotherapist, and took all the clinically-oriented classes in a psychology department that was primarily devoted to experimental psychology.
M.A. in Clinical Psychology, California School of Professional Psychology-San Diego, 1977
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, California School of Professional Psychology-San Diego, 1979
CSPP was the earliest "professional school" of psychology, originally unaffiliated with a university, and founded and operated mostly by practicing psychologists rather than academicians. It was a good complement to my undergraduate education, providing the opportunity to learn different types of psychological assessment and therapy from actual practitioners of those methods and to apply them in field placements where we worked while taking classes.
I was most attracted to the more humanistic and experiential therapies such as Gestalt and person-centered (formerly client-centered) therapy. In San Diego I was able to participate in classes and workshops with the seminal psychotherapist/researcher Carl Rogers and his colleagues, with Erv and Miriam Polster and other Gestalt therapists, and with Stanislav Grof, a brilliant psychiatrist who had developed therapies and personality theory based on LSD experiences and using intentional hyperventilation instead of LSD (holotropic breathwork). I continued pursuing my interest in what became known as transpersonal psychology, which included study of altered states, spiritual experiences and practices, and other profound issues that psychological laboratories had not been inclined to study.
My doctoral dissertation was a highly original study of guided-fantasy psychotherapy techniques used by licensed therapists with their actual clients. I presented my research at the First Annual Conference of the American Association for the Study of Mental Imagery in 1979, and wrote an article on this study, "Guided fantasy as a psychotherapeutic intervention: An experimental study," published in J.E. Shorr, G. E. Sobel, P. Robin, & J. A. Connella (Eds.), Imagery: Its many dimensions and applications. New York: Plenum Press, 1980.
Additional Training
Predoctoral internship: San Diego County Mental Health Services, 1978-1979
Postdoctoral fellowship in Community and Clinical Psychology: Shasta County Mental Health Services, 1979-1980
My predoctoral internship included training seminars in psychological testing and family therapy. The postdoctoral fellowship included supervision by several different types of professionals and rotations through the Shasta County Mental Health inpatient unit and other community agencies.
In the 1980s I became interested in the work of the highly influential hypnotherapist Milton H. Erickson and his students. Through the 1980s and 1990s I pursued additional training in marital and family therapy, strategic therapy and Ericksonian hypnotherapy, including workshops by Jay Haley and Cloé Madanes, James Framo, Ernest Rossi, Jeffrey Zeig, Stephen Gilligan, and William O'Hanlon (leading figures in these fields) among others.
In 1992 and 1993 I was trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) by the psychologist who developed it, Francine Shapiro. This is an innovative approach to treating trauma and other issues that involves using directed eye movements to reduce emotional discomfort and change maladaptive attitudes about oneself.
In the following years I received advanced training in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, including workshops on treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by Edna Foa, one of the leading researchers on exposure and response-prevention therapy. I have continued to update my knowledge and skills in using Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, especially with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and trauma-related disorders. In each two-year period of my psychology licensure I take at least 36 hours of continuing education courses, as required by California law. I strive to learn of developments in my current areas of practice and to investigate newer fields of knowledge and practice as well.
Professional Memberships
American Psychological Association; Division 42: Psychologists in Independent Practice
California State Psychological Association
North Coast Association of Mental Health Professionals
Humboldt Independent Practice Association