Services

 

 

Are you working on...?

Coping with depression, anxiety and other challenges with mood

Understanding patterns as an artist that prevent you from enjoying or completing your work

Maintaining integrity in your public/private life

Parenting or teaching adolescents and pre-adolescents

 Self-esteem struggles, reaching your goals and quieting your “inner critic"

Healing grief and loss

Parenting through separation and divorce

Dealing with chronic pain/impact on relationships

 

About Psychotherapy...

 

Psychotherapy (sometimes also called "counseling") typically consists of 50-minute face-to-face meetings between the therapist and individual or family members, which begin by focusing on the presenting problems and exploring the situation in the context of the family. During the first session or two, I will usually gather information on the history of the individuals involved and the ways in which they have attempted to cope with the problem(s) in the past. After an initial period of assessment, we will agree upon a plan for treatment, including treatment goals, frequency of meetings, and whenever we can estimate, the length of time treatment will last. The treatment will include exploration of alternative ways to deal with the problems we’ve discussed and/or provide a renewed focus for pursuing your life goals. Many people see psychotherapy as a means of self- and family-support and exploration, not just for coping with problems.

 

While my practice has certain focus areas, I have worked for decades with individual adults, couples and families on a wide variety of issues. I hope you'll contact me about your specific needs.

​

About Teletherapy...

 

Michael is licensed to provide Teletherapy and Psychotherapy in California, Louisiana and New York. Teletherapy refers to providing psychotherapy services remotely using telecommunications technologies, such as video conferencing or telephone. One of the benefits of teletherapy is that the client and clinician can engage in services without being in the same physical location--the primary benefit as we all try to stay healthy and safe around the Covid-19 virus. I have met all the state-level requirements for conducting safe and effective Telemental Health sessions, and have acquired special expertise in the ongoing provision of teletherapy.

 

Teletherapy can be helpful in ensuring continuity of care if the client or clinician moves to a different location, takes an extended vacation, or is otherwise unable to continue to meet in person. It is also more convenient and takes less time. Teletherapy, however, requires technical competence on both our parts to be helpful. Although there are benefits of teletherapy, there are some differences between in-person psychotherapy and teletherapy, as well as some risks. For example:

​

• Risks to confidentiality. Because teletherapy sessions take place outside of the therapist’s private office, there is potential for other people to overhear sessions if you are not in a private place during the session. On my end I will take reasonable steps to ensure your privacy. But it is important for you to make sure you find a private place for our session where you will not be interrupted. It is also important for you to protect the privacy of our session on your cellphone or other device. You should participate in therapy only while in a room or area where other people are not present and cannot overhear the conversation.

• Issues related to technology. There are many ways that technology issues might impact teletherapy. For example, technology may stop working during a session, other people might be able to get access to our private conversation, or stored data could be accessed by unauthorized people or companies. These are less likely when using a fully HIPAA-compliant platform like the one I utilize.

• Crisis management and intervention. Usually, I will not engage in teletherapy with clients who are currently in a crisis situation requiring high levels of support and intervention. Before engaging in teletherapy, we will develop an emergency response plan to address potential crisis situations that may arise during the course of our teletherapy work.

• Efficacy. Most research shows that teletherapy is about as effective as in-person psychotherapy. However, some therapists believe--and I am one of them--that something is lost by not being in the same room. For example, there is debate about a therapist’s ability to fully understand non-verbal information when working remotely, and non-verbal information is a significant part of human communication.

​

​

​​