Existential Therapy

Especially in this political and social climate, anxiety, dread, and depression can be attributed to the human condition; that is, being a human in this deeply imperfect world is bound to bring with it anxieties, worries, and a sense of loneliness sometimes. Viewing it as a normal, although unpleasant, part of life can help to shift the narrative from pathology, to a temporary feeling that we can use to explore these emotions and how they impact us globally.

I practice existential therapy by focusing on areas of your life in which you can promote a greater sense of meaning and purpose, interpersonal connection, freedom, and fearlessness. I embrace the discomfort of not knowing the answer to all of life's questions, and strive to help my clients ease their anxiety about the great unknowns. Realizing that life's decisions can not always be put into boxes of "right" or "wrong" helps clients become more confident and assertive about making choices.

Contributes to spiritual integration, aiding in understanding, building, and repairing your unique frameworks of self. Sometimes in life we experience events such as death, loss, life disruption, and other events that fundamentally disturb our sense of self. Our sense of self is the foundation of who we are, and when it becomes disturbed, it can create a host of cognitive and somatic issues. We want to feel whole, and when we feel broken, at our core, existential Therapy helps us to rebuild.

When clients first begin therapy, one of the questions that often comes up is what it means to work through emotions or traumas. From the perspective of Existential Therapy, we address the meaning that these experiences hold for you, which comes from our ability to build context foresight around them. If the past still hurts, or if the future holds too many mysteries, it is worth exploring the meaning that we derive from our life's story as a whole.

Existential therapy asks deep questions about the nature of being human. Why am I here? What do I want from life? What gives me purpose? What matters to me? It simultaneously asks us to consider our unique experience in this world while also helping us to see that everything we're going through is also connected to a universal human experience.

To be human is to endure pain and hardship. I utilize existential therapy to help clients find meaning and value in their lives, despite the challenges and hard times.

Existential-humanistic therapy is a relational approach that recognizes the importance of creating a therapy environment that helps clients deepen their awareness of themselves. Existential-humanistic therapy also recognizes the importance of addressing issues of freedom and responsibility, meaning, relationships, and working with one's potential and limitations. Rollo May, one of the founders of this approach, noted that the purpose of psychotherapy is to set people free.

What is it all for? Existential therapy tackles the deep, powerful questions that reside in each of us, to unlock the purpose and meaning that defines our life. Often feelings of sadness, loneliness, "stuck"ness & fear come from a place of living out of alignment with what we truly want and desire. Human concerns such as mortality, responsibility & freedom also impact how we move through the world, and existential therapy aims to explore these powerful concerns to unlock a happier life.

In my philosophical counseling practice, I draw on existential thinkers like Nietzsche, Sartre, De Beauvoir, Buber, Frankl to help clients to work through different versions of the "existential crisis." Together we work through the loss of meaning brought on by an experience of disillusionment, the loss of self brought on by various identity crises, and the loss of freedom and authenticity brought on by experiences of alienation, objectification, oppression or "bad faith".

I have been interested in the meaning of life since I first read Man's Search For Meaning 30 years ago. As a cancer patient, I have had a lot of time to consider my own purpose, and I think most people at some point (or many points) in their lives have moments where they contemplate what this all means. I love helping my clients explore the existential concerns of death, freedom, isolation, and meaning.

A fan of Abraham Maslow, I view client experience as one that, cultural contexts aside, has universal elements across all people when it comes to issues of purpose and meaning, life, esteem, aging, and death.

Existential therapy focuses on themes of personal autonomy, isolation and connectedness, experiences of loss, and the search for meaning. The approach emphasizes your capacity to make rational choices and to develop to your maximum potential. Our work together will focus on increasing self-awareness, fostering personal growth, and living your authentic truth.

You will find a safe space to explore in your darkest and brightest of hours. For four years, I have had the privilege of walking alongside people on their cancer and grief journeys—from diagnosis to treatment to survivorship and beyond. From them, I have learned how people navigate life within an existential crisis. My own struggles, analysis, training, and growth allow me to be fully present with you.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” This quote by Viktor Frankl changed my life. I was in the middle of my own therapy journey and needed a lifeline. This was it: permission to choose my own way, no matter how hard the situation. Existential therapy is all about finding meaning in your experiences, and giving you back the power to create change in your life.

I believe that each person has the power to determine what has meaning in their life. What we give meaning to is often what dictates how we feel and how we live. We must also find ways to accept ourselves as individuals rather than waiting for others to accept us. We can work together to help you identify what you want to give meaning to your life and to accept who you are at this moment.

Having a background in philosophy in my undergrad, existentialism was an immediate interest of mine. As I moved through grad school, every free moment was filled with the works of Irvin Yalom and Viktor Frankl. I will sit with you and we together can explore the 4 tenants of existentialism and how the way you interact with them may be affecting your day-to-day life and relationships with others and yourself.

Our therapists are experienced in existential therapy, humanistic therapy and other holistic therapies incorporating several modalities into their individual practices.

I offer existential psychotherapy. Understanding your past and how it effects your present allows you to slowly bring change to your current world.