Philosophy

My greatest joy is to help others identify the growth already budding in their own inner knowing. In that regard we are all teachers and learners, there is no hierarchy. We each have different energy bodies and different kinds of intelligence. We need each other. We need to discover our unique place in the universe.

For me it is a great honor to be asked to work with another person as they find their way in the world. I believe we all arrive with a soul's plan and when we go off course, we experience symptoms that are purposeful, and when honored have the potential to draw us back to our way on the path. I believe we are much more than a set of DSM5 descriptors. To label is to limit what is possible. After all my years working in the University of Nevada Medical School, I fundamentally think psychology and counseling should not use diagnostic categories derived from a medical orientation. 

Instead we should assist the client to look at his or her whole life in context. What in the child was natural, wanting to develop? How was that child nurtured or not nurtured, to develop his/her potential? Can we help adults re-discover the stepping stones of their lives with roads taken and roads not taken? Can we discern a thread of fate and destiny unfolding? For me, we are each in a process of initiation at each developmental stage. We are asked to risk, to invent, to step up to the challenge, to empower ourselves BEING human.

One of my favorite pieces of writing for therapists and doctors was done by Dr. Naomi Remen. If we embodied her ideas, we would all experience an honoring and renewal in therapy rather than thinking of ourselves as special or being so needed that we give up our own life force.