Hi, I’m David. I help people get unstuck from the struggles in their lives.
Do you know what almost all of my new patients say to me when we first meet?
“I want a therapist who doesn’t just sit there and listen to me talk.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Just showing up and talking in therapy each week won’t make a bit of difference. What actually helps is if you are also guided, challenged, and supported. In essence, I want to turn your dreams of getting better into a tangible and permanent reality.
Before therapy, I felt a lack of control of my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and direction in life. I felt like my day-to-day was unpredictable. Now, I feel like I have strategies to deal with ups and downs and manage my way through any potential relapses.
– Patient Review
This process of personal recovery is amazing to witness and I am always impressed by the motivation of my patients towards change. I come from a multi-generational family of therapists and psychologists. I have grown up in this environment all my life and “breathed the air” of psychology, so to speak. This experience has taught me that the hardest part of change for anyone is in getting to know yourself and to face the areas where we feel stuck at in life. If I can help during this process, I would be glad to assist you.
My goal is to help people overcome their struggles and setbacks by taking practical steps that build upon each other to provide lasting and meaningful change. By doing this, I hope to help you connect with what you may have have lost in life and in yourself.
I feel very strongly that we can let what happens in our lives make us angry, resentful and afraid, or we can embrace these events as a way to grow stronger, yet softer, and end up being more open to where we need to be at in life.
I like the idea of a more proactive, aggressive approach to problem solving and it sounds like I can find that here.
– Patient review
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the first appointment like? Our first meeting is as much about you interviewing me as it is about me finding out more about you. This must be a “good fit” for both of us in order for your therapy to be effective, and to tailor treatment to your specific issues (there is no one size fits all).
Do you take insurance? I am in-network and a Preferred Provider for PacificSource, First Choice Health, Kaiser Permanente (“Added Choice”), and Samaritan Health. For most other insurance plans, I can bill as an out-of-network provider. I also offer private pay for those interested in additional privacy.
How fast will I get better? The harsh reality is that if you just “show up” to therapy, nothing really will change in the long run. A better indicator of what type of progress you’ll experience is to ask yourself how much you’re willing to work on the things we talk about in-between sessions.
I can only see you on Thursday evenings, I might need to cancel frequently, and I’ll need to bring my cat… My, that’s a lot of conditions (yes, I actually got this question once). My experience over the past two decades has been that the more roadblocks and conditions we place in our way, or the more we try to bargain our way to success, the less likely it is that we’ll find what we’re looking for.
Learn More About David
Getting to know me is the best way to see if there’s a good fit!
Is David a Good Fit for Me?
Therapy with David is NOT for you if…
- You’re looking for a “Magic Bullet” to change your life without committing to any real work on your end
- You’re not willing to invest at least 10 minutes a day on reinventing yourself using the skills and tactics learned in therapy
- You’re not at least 18 years of age or older
- You’re struggling with serious issues of safety, self-harm, or suicide
- You are overly self-medicating your emotional pain with alcohol, marijuana, or drugs, and are unwilling to change
You’re Ready for Therapy if…
- You’re open to being challenged to move outside of your comfort zone in order to achieve higher levels of tangible success
- You are willing to commit to making 100% of the change in yourself and not wait for others in your life to change first
- You feel like you’ve gotten as far with your struggles as you can, and are tired of just “maintaining” and keeping your head above water
- You’re ready to focus on changing your future rather than rehashing the trauma of the past
- You understand that progress will be challenging and that there will be ups and downs, but dramatic shifts in your life CAN happen by adjusting your life approach using the tactics you’ll learn
Newsletter
Prefer just to read and learn at your own pace? No problem! Get copies of new articles (like this) as soon as I write them, as well as info about any appointment openings for therapy (both in-person and virtual). The bottom line is that if you’ve been wanting some direction in your life, I’d like to help. On average, I write about one article every week or two.
Published Articles
Why Are Other People So Incompetent?!
Have you ever noticed now other people seem to get in your way, cause more problems, or just seem to be so stupid and incompetent that it “makes your blood boil?” Having to deal with such people, and situations, is very upsetting. It seems like “there are so many of those incompetent people” out there.…
Why Don’t I Feel Normal Unless I am Crying or Upset?
What is a normal way to respond to problems? While this varies from person to person, sometimes our response itself creates and contributes to more of the chaos in our lives. Identifying a few key points may help smooth things along. Overreacting to Life Responding to life in a more healthy way is critical. We…
Continue Reading Why Don’t I Feel Normal Unless I am Crying or Upset?
Common Number 1 Priorities
We all have priorities in life. When it comes to our emotions, there are basically four priorities that we tend to choose in life. However, it may surprise you that they all have unexpected consequences. What you end up doing will make others feel things that you cannot control. You’ll also end up paying a price by…
The Optimistic Mindset
In 1965, Commander James Stockdale was flying over enemy territory when he was forced to eject from his plane. Stockdale was captured, tortured and held as a prisoner of war for seven years before his escape. How he dealt with his situation draws an inescapable conclusion regarding what it takes to survive in life when the…
Impulsive Problem-Solving
A few months back, I had an unexpected late-night scare. It was about 3:18 AM, and I was fast asleep. My wife woke me abruptly, concern in her voice. She had done this to me about an hour earlier to ask if I’d given the dog her medicine, so I was already mildly disturbed. But I…
Enabling Others: Encouraging Dysfunctional Behaviors
We usually “mean well” and want to be “helpful.” In fact, in many ways this helps us to work and solve problems together. However, there are times that the ways in which we help other people may actually cause more problems that we solve. This can happen even if we do it out of genuine…
Continue Reading Enabling Others: Encouraging Dysfunctional Behaviors
Freedom from Being an Adult Child of a Dysfunctional Family
It is hard for Adult Children to ask for professional help and therapy, even though this is the very thing that will help to free them from the “prison” of the past before they pass on their problems to the next generation. It is important to start to be aware of these potential traits so…
Continue Reading Freedom from Being an Adult Child of a Dysfunctional Family
What does Codependency Really Mean?
Individuals that relate to the patterns of Adult Children tend to struggle with codependence. Codependency is best understood as a relationship where you do all the work, suffer all the consequences, the other person does not grow or change, others don’t even notice all you do, or appreciate it, and you end up worn out,…
How Do I Recover From My Past?
Growing up with any type of neglect or abuse can warp our reality and affect our future in catastrophic ways. We’re left with some really unhealthy rules or patterns of how to live our lives, which actually cause us more problems than they solve. To escape this unending torture, we have to learn some new critical rules for…
How to Tell if You are a Victim of Emotional Abuse
Abusers can be either male or a female. This article is therefore inclusive as the cycle of abuse is the same whether the abuser is a male or a female. These stages of the cycle of abuse are important to know about if you are going to manage your safety. Step 1: Kaboom! The cycle…
Continue Reading How to Tell if You are a Victim of Emotional Abuse