Prior to becoming a psychologist, I was a Domino's Pizza manager and then a computer programmer. I worked for IBM and was on the team that developed PC-DOS (before Windows :-)). I've now been practicing psychology for 27 years, and have literally helped tens of thousands of people. In my spare time, I enjoy writing articles for the psychology profession.
Well, first, I always take my lead from the person in front of me. Everyone has different needs and different things they want out of therapy. Secondly, I like to work with people to come up with novel solutions to the problems we face in life. For example, ask me about my "what else' technique - it's especially helpful with teens or anyone else who is emotionally upset in the moment. Or my theory of the ultimate in mental health! :-)
There's really two kinds of things that I especially enjoy seeing patients take away from sessions. 1. The feeling that they don't have to be stuck in their situation anymore - that they have some new ideas about how to solve their problems and feel confident that, even if one idea doesn't immediately work, they can try some other things that will eventually work. 2. I get tremendous satisfaction from seeing the insights people get about themselves and their lives - which gives them choices.
