THERAPY

 

Something isn’t working. Sometimes, nothing is working.

Life isn’t what it used to be. For a while, you seemed to have everything figured out. These days you wonder what is even worth figuring out.

Do you ever ask: “Is this what my life comes down to?”

Maybe you worry it’s too late to change, that your foundation is already laid, that life is constrained by inescapable circumstances; that past mistakes, hurts, and injustices cannot be undone…

But maybe worst of all are the moments you think your best option might be to settle for the short-lived comfort of familiar ways. After all, cold comfort feels better than no comfort.

I suspect if you’re reading this, you have been feeling curious if there might be another way. At the same time, you may also feel conflicted on how far you are able to go and if trying to change is worth the effort. Maybe you worry it will only make things worse. Maybe past attempts have made things worse. Maybe you have felt deeply misunderstood, judged, or unable to be helped.

Let’s talk about it…

I’m Paul – a psychotherapist, past professor of psychology, researcher, speaker at psychology conferences, and the author of a forthcoming book.

With 14 years of counseling experience, some of my clinical areas of interest include:

  • Relationship Issues
  • Complex Trauma and PTSD
  • Self Esteem
  • Survivors of Familial Abuse (psychological, physical, sexual)
  • Family Estrangement
  • Betrayal
  • Codependency
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Obsessive and Compulsive Tendencies
  • Sleep and Insomnia
  • Cultural Stress

I am currently offering prospective patients a reduced-fee 30-minute consultation for $50. If we both feel it seems like a good fit to do some work together, we will schedule weekly meetings and begin our initial attempt to find some understanding around what is going on. If appropriate, I (or you) may recommend that we meet more frequently. My private practice office, Sudbury Psychotherapy, is located in idyllic Sudbury, Massachusetts. I also work remotely over Zoom with people from California, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Florida.

Regardless of your initial goals or how they may evolve over the course of our work, my way of working strives to promote for all people the following:

  • Insight into the reasons why you and other people are the way they are
  • Flexibility in the ways you respond to life stress
  • Improved communication skills
  • Balancing self-reliance and interdependence with others
  • Enhanced ability to feel present in the world (not just being there physically)
  • Enjoyment of professional work
  • Improved ability to manage emotions in the face of adversity
  • Self-esteem that is both realistic and reliable
  • Increased empathy for yourself and others
  • Working through long-term resentments
  • Forgiveness and amends with others (and if unsafe to do so, finding alternative methods)
  • Appropriate boundaries to care for yourself and your relationships
  • Enhanced capacity for experiencing realistic love
  • A sense of aliveness and purpose in everyday life
  • Acceptance of imperfections, limitations, and things that cannot be changed
  • Learning how to use your unconscious patterns for growth, rather than being used by them

My approach is to adjust the therapy to fit the person rather than make the person fit the therapy. You and I will be talking together about your life in a way that is intended to help you. I will listen to you, be curious, interact, ask good questions, offer any interesting observations that come to me, and I will make space for you to attempt the difficult but necessary work you are trying to do.

I realize I am a new person in your life. We don’t know each other yet, and I can’t say for sure what will happen in therapy once we do; but what I can say with certainty is that if we can talk for long enough, something will happen, and when it does, I will be there with you. You may need some time to feel that I have become someone familiar to you who you can be messy around. By now, I have heard and seen it all. If you want, I will go the distance with you.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

I offer a reduced-fee 30-minute consultation over Zoom for $50. The consultation gives us time to talk about your interest in therapy, and for us both to feel out if it seems like a mutual fit to try working together. To schedule a consultation, please fill out the form below, and I will get back to you within two business days. Please note that the consultation is not reimbursed by insurance.