About Me and My Practice

I am a Licensed Psychologist in PA, NJ, and NY with a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology.  I specialize in therapy services for children, age pre-school through adolescence, and their families.  I also work with a broad spectrum of adult clients and couples.  With 20 years clinical experience I am proudly serving the Bucks County and surrounding community as a private practitioner in  Yardley, PA. 

I trained and was later a staff Psychologist at Children’s Specialized Hospital, where I helped children heal from the emotional effects of physical traumas.  Over the years, I have continued to help youngsters recover from emotional and physical traumas and have expanded this work to help adults heal from current or past traumatic events.  I also specialize in grief work with children and adults.  Other problems in children may include adjustment to parent separation or divorce, difficulties with mood, problem behaviors at home or school, social challenges, ADD/ADHD, Asperger's Disorder, and Autism.

I integrate complementary therapeutic methods and techniques to offer a highly personalized and solution oriented approach for each client.  I work with each individual to help them build on their strengths and attain the personal growth they are committed to accomplishing.  This involves partnering with a client or family to understand how the problems that brought them to therapy developed and what they mean so that change and healing can take place.

In addition to traditional talk therapy, I rely of the latest mind-body therapies and brain based therapies.  In mind-body therapies, clients tune into how emotions or negative beliefs about themselves are felt in their body.  Using the non-conscious (or “non-thinking”) areas of the brain, strong emotions can be more directly and fully processed.   This type of therapy can be highly effective in helping clients to overcome trauma and anxieties.  It can also help an individual when they feel "stuck" in their talk therapy or that they have "talked forever" about their issue, but still can't seem to move past it.   Mind-body therapies are also an effective tool for adults who would rather "talk less and do more" in therapy and can be helpful for children and adolescents who are resistant to the talk therapy process.

My strong background in neuroscience has led to the incorporation of brain based therapies in my practice.  The Integrated Listening System program, grounded in the latest neuroscience research, has helped children and adults gain relief from anxiety and depression, improve memory, increase attention and concentration, improve cognitive sharpness, and have better emotional regulation.

In my work with children, I use a combination of child centered therapeutic play, mind-body awareness, and cognitive-behavioral techniques to help children make better sense of their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.  With this understanding, children can make healthier choices, have more positive experiences with family, and feel better about themselves.

I believe that child therapy must always involve collaboration with the parents.  Parents are the experts with regard to their child and family.  Regular parent participation is essential for meaningful change in a child’s therapy.

For younger children and their parents, I often use a model of filial therapy.  Filial therapy is a tool that empowers parents by teaching them, through therapeutic play with their child, how to better attend and respond to their child.  It can end a pattern of negative communication between parent and child and result in a positive behavior change in the child.  Often parents who describe their younger children as "defiant" or "oppositional" see good results after a series of filial therapy sessions.

In addition to traditional therapy with children, I have also worked in the Early Intervention Program, assessing children, ages 0 - 3 for therapy services and training parents to better manage their special needs child's behavior challenges.  Over the years, I have been a member of an independent Child Study Team where I conducted Psychoeducational Evaluations for youngsters struggling academically. In this role, I partnered with parents to advocate for their child during the IEP process.