MY SPECIALIZATION IS HELPING CLIENTS understand and resolve the complex issues they face as individuals and within their families and social networks. At the heart of my approach is a deep understanding of the way the family system affects the behavior, feelings and wellbeing of all its members.
Problems can seem overwhelming and insurmountable when people do not understand the way family systems work. I help clients identify the roles being played by individual family members and other significant people in their lives, and the way those roles are interwoven and affect everyone involved. In complex families, which are those with many illnesses and other problems, it is difficult for one member to change even their own behavior because all the other members do more of what they usually do to keep the family in balance and preserve the status quo. This dance of interconnectedness happens even when family members are not communicating. Whether I am working with an individual or many members of the family, my focus is broad enough to see what is happening in the family as a whole, thus enabling me to protect and guide each person.
My early years in a neighborhood clinic in the South Bronx gave me invaluable experience working with extremely chaotic families in an equally chaotic social setting. I have taught courses on chaotic systems at NYU School of Social Work, Smith College, and the Seton Hall Psychology Doctoral Program and have held workshops in this field nationally, and I am an adjunct associate professor at NYU (Ret.) I have been practicing in New York City and Warwick for the past 30+ years.