Licensed Psychotherapist
Providing Telehealth Therapy in Hawaii
Who I Help:
I offer evidence-based psychotherapeutic modalities
for adults in Hawaii who have needs related to:
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Depression
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Anxiety
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Stress
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Life transitions
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Trauma
You Want Therapy That Works
Rooted in Hawaii, my practice combines clinical modalities with a deeply personal, conversational approach. I believe therapy is most effective when it feels safe, consistent, and tailored to the unique rhythms of your life on the islands.
Everyone wants to know what the therapist they have in mind is like.
Here are a few brief notes for that purpose:
1. My goal is to provide a safe space for you to delve into the issues that matter most to you and to support every step of your journey. You'll find that I approach our conversations with empathy, compassion, and deep respect.
2. We’ll discuss your goals from the first session. That will also gives us a sense of which approach is best. We'll review both goals and approach regularly.
There’s no right or wrong here. Some people have specific things they want to work on from the start and want to broaden after we focus on those. Other people want to get a broad sense first and then add practical approaches for specific things along the way. We’ll collaborate together on whatever pace is best for you.
3. I have a professional but laid-back style. After being coached to have a certain demeanor in school, I had a client who was stuck on everything being done just right. So I adapted my style to humanize therapy. Humans sometimes stumble a little before finding good words to convey something and that's okay. The desire to help is far more important. People I work with have used the term “natural” and “like talking with a friend”.
4. You'll find I'm practical. I don't like Oprah-isms: those things that sound profound but don’t work in real life. At the same time, my clients will say that we talk about literally anything. It could range from pet care (for obvious reasons) to philosophy and beyond.
5. A running joke is my analogies - I usually think of what would be most relevant to the situation on the spot, for better or for worse.
6. Outside of my professional life, I am an avid reader continuously seeking to expand my understanding of the world we live in and the human condition. I have practiced martial arts all my life and in the last decade moved to a combination of physical and spiritual practices (because of this, I'm usually very familiar with the various somatic practices that you hear about nowadays. I engage in several self-improvement activities, including Toastmasters.
My History
I don't like writing too much about myself. However, people have said I should so I trust the following will be helpful.
I’ve always been interested in helping people. I’ve also always asked “what *really* helps people to change?” That’s led me to exploring the best evidenced based practices to help people.
My undergrad was from a phenomenological / humanistic approach. If that’s a mouthful, there’s an introduction in this video (the book he is discussing is authored by one of my professors). My undergrad included heavy reading of the gamut of psychology ‘classics’ along with a healthy questioning of what constitutes a science. Psychology is the logos (the understanding or science) of the psyche (psyche means roughly ‘soul’). So how does a ‘science of soul’ work? If we limit it to a stereotypical science, does it lose some part of its soul or lose some ability to adequately represent what our human souls are?
My undergrad school did not have a graduate program of its own; it was a feeder school for some key graduate schools across the country. However, I wanted to stay in Texas. I also had a sense that the philosophical approach of my undergraduate program - although very nice to ponder - was not very practical. I got a job at the medical school and there I encountered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It appealed to me because CBT met people where they were, with what they were actually experiencing. And it was very practical.
I started taking graduate courses, thinking to fill in gaps in my undergrad education to transfer later. After a while it made sense to continue. I actually got some bad counseling about it. The recruiter for the school told me that the Master’s level license they were training me for was nearly as good as a Ph.D. He was right, technically. The big technical difference is Ph.Ds. can perform projective tests and neuropsychological tests due to education on these topics. I had no desire to do either of those things. As it turns out, if I had gone the Ph.D. route, I would not have had many of the formative experiences that I did.
When it came time to do my counseling hours (unpaid counseling before sitting for the licensing exam) I did two: one in private practice and one attached to the medical school, working with people with traumatic brain injury. So I ended up getting neuropsychological education anyway.
After getting my license, I worked in the poorest areas of Dallas. My responsibility started as assessing everyone who came for services and grew to seeing people where they were - often street corners, dilapidated structures, etc. - as clinical leader of a treatment team. We were on the cutting edge of treatment, denying no one, figuring out some way - any way - of reaching people and helping them. Here’s a write-up of my mentor, Joel Feiner, during that time and some of his favorite sayings.
Between my work at the medical school (and associated hospitals) and that community work, I encountered any diagnoses you can think of. I also got really good at looking for medical issues that could contribute to or even be the cause of mental health issues. I knew all evidence-based treatments and the research behind them, including all the psychoactive medications available.
In 2002, circumstances conspired to bring me to Hawaii. A long-forgotten application resulted in a phone call and I joined a company doing behavioral health for HMSA. That project was based on the belief that people with chronic medical issues could benefit from behavioral health care. Further, we should figure out ways to support that, given the stigma associated with mental health and the unique culture of Hawaii. I spent five years on that mission. Later, I spent more years with HMSA on various projects to improve the combined medical and mental health of their members. Somewhere in between there, I also worked for the State improving the mental health care delivered by State-operated and vendor providers.
In between all that I kept up a private practice. I offered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to people that other therapists were not able to help. Over time, though, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) spoke to me. It did so in the same way it did for its founders: it helped in places CBT could not. Therapy was always enjoyable but now it could also be organic and fluid. I very much softened my approach (CBT typically follows a set schedule). Most people like fitting the tools in organically better.
Through the years, I’ve also developed an interest in other modalities, which you can read about here.
I’m happy with the way things turned out:
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I wouldn’t have changed the philosophical questioning undergrad. To start off questioning the foundations gives a certain humility.
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I wouldn’t have changed the years of development. It not only gave me exposure, it gave me a focus on the evidentiary basis for any kind of treatment offered. That’s a focus that sticks with me to this day.
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I’m glad I came to Hawaii with the mission of combining medical and mental health. That’s so important.
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In a way, I’m glad the pandemic changed everything. With the pandemic, the assumption that psychotherapy had to happen in an office (and the problem of maintaining an office) went away and I could devote myself to this full-time.
FAQs
For FAQs about my practice, see this page.
Therapeutic Approach
For my therapeutic approach, see this page.
Testimonials
For Testimonials, see the bottom of my Home Page.
Let’s Begin the Conversation
Taking the first step toward therapy is a commitment to your well-being. I provide a secure and compassionate telehealth space for adults navigating life's challenges across all Hawaiian islands. Reach out today to schedule your initial consultation and begin your journey toward healing and growth.