I graduated from the NYU School of Social Work in 1992 with a Masters Degree in Social Work. I went on to receive postgraduate training in Psychoanalysis and Comprehensive Psychotherapy from the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and graduated in 1998. I have completed EMDR Levels I and II training and have been incorporating EMDR into my work with clients since 2009. I have gone on to receive more advanced training in EMDR including one on one and group instruction with an EMDR consultant.
In addition to being a psychotherapist, I am an Insight Meditation practitioner. I’ve practiced meditation for over twenty-five years and have been fortunate to teach this practice to others. I've taught at various centers including the Downtown Meditation Community and New York Insight Meditation Center, where I served on the Teachers Council for many years. I currently teach at New York Dharma. I have found that meditation practice is particularly helpful in psychotherapy as it helps people to hold emotions in a more spacious way and can provide a practice that can help people to find a new, more compassionate way of treating themselves. My article on the interface of psychotherapy and meditation, "What Meditation Can't Cure," appears in the summer 2017 issue of Buddhadharma Magazine and is currently available online at Lions Roar.
I've taught various workshops and courses including Human Behavior to graduate social work students at NYU School of Social Work, Working with Dreams at the Center for Spirituality and Psychotherapy at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, and Transpersonal Psychology: Theory and Practice at the Psychotherapy and Spirituality Institute. I am particularly interested in how psychotherapy can help us to find a deep sense of meaning in our lives.
Outside of my psychotherapy practice, I have recorded three albums of original devotional songs and chants. I love to play the harmonium and sing with others! I’ve shared this music at such venues as the New York Integral Yoga Institute and the Kripalu Center in Lenox, MA. You can listen to some of my music here.