LICENSING
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Licensed Independent Substance Abuse Counselor (LISAC) in Arizona. I am also a Certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Specialist (CCBTS) and a Certified Prepare-Enrich Premarital Counseling Facilitator (visit website @ www.prepare-enrich.com). Using empirically supported therapy approaches, I provide therapy and counseling, as well as consultation and coaching, to individuals, couples and families of all social identities, and without preference to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
I have been an independent and licensed therapist in Arizona since 2003. I have a Bachelor of Social Work degree (BSW-1997), a Master of Science Degree (MS-2002) in Family and Human Development, and Graduate Certificates in both Marriage and Family Therapy and Adult Development and Aging. I am a clinical member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and the Arizona Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AzAMFT). I served a 2 year Governor’s Appointment on the Domestic Relations Committee, and was a Faculty Associate/Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University in the ASU School of Social and Family Dynamics. I am trained in both basic and divorce mediation, clinical hypnosis, problem gambling, and prolonged exposure therapy for the treatment of PTSD symptoms. I have three years of extensive training with William A. Griffin, Ph.D. as a research-based clinician in Marriage and Family Therapy at ASU, and over 50 hours of training in Marriage and Couple Research and Intervention with John Gottman, Ph.D., and his wife Julie Gottman at the Gottman Institute in Seattle, Washington.
VOLUNTEER WORK AND EXPERIENCE
I was an active volunteer with adults and youth groups for 30 years, and a peer counselor for 5 years. Prior to establishing myself as an independent therapist in 2003, I volunteered at Mesa Senior Center, and at Friendship Village in Tempe, Arizona for 18 months. While at Friendship Village, I organized and facilitated a caregiver support group for men who provide care for their spouses with dementia and Alzheimer’s. I also volunteered as a mediator for the Tempe Justice Court. I began my professional career under clinical supervision, working in two non-profit organizations in Maricopa County during a three year period as a mobile crisis counselor and child and family therapist.
PERSONAL & SUMMARY
Aside from my academic and clinical training, I have over 47 years of accumulated marriage and family life experience as a husband, a father of six now grown children, and grandfather of 24. Prior to my later life education, I worked in, then owned and operated small businesses in Sacramento, Tempe, and Phoenix (1972-1997). My later life graduate education in Family and Human Development and Marriage and Family Relationships, 22 years of clinical experience, over 47 years of my own marriage, family, and life experience, and my inherent ability just to like, enjoy, and accept people without judgment, has prepared and enabled me to really connect with my clients and to be helpful to them (See Therapy That Works! for examples).