I strongly believe you should have as much information as possible when choosing a therapist. It is an extremely important decision, as you will be trusting your therapist with your most personal wishes and experiences, and discussing things you may not ever discuss with anyone else in your life. In order to offer as much information as possible about therapy in advance, I have several pages on this site dedicated to the topic. This page covers some general issues including the length and cost of therapy, the methods I use, etc. My Science (couples | individuals) pages go into much greater detail on my methods how often clients can expect to improve, and by how much, using these methods. While therapy is not for everyone, I hope you will agree based on this information that therapy has a significant benefit for almost all who seek it.

The three questions I am most often asked by people considering therapy are "How long will it last?" "How long is each session?" and "Will it work?" Let me address each of these questions individually.

Therapy typically lasts 8 to 12 sessions. Even before you begin therapy, we can discuss what your particular goals are and I can offer a realistic assessment of how long you may need to reach those goals. It is to both of our benefit if you come away from therapy feeling that you made the maximum possible gain in the minimum possible time. Sessions with couples are typically 50 or 80 minutes, in keeping with the model of Emotionally Focused Therapy I use. (There's more on EFT here page if you're interested.) I use the rest of the time in the hour (or hour and a half) to make notes from the session, handle billing, and conduct other administrative tasks specific to your case. Therapy is very likely to make a positive difference in your life. I use only modern methods supported by scientific research. EFT, for example, creates significant improvement in 9 of every 10 couples who complete the process. (There's more data on the Scientific Support pages for couples and individuals.) Neither I nor any other therapist can guarantee positive change, since that depends in large part on how you use what you've learned in therapy over the other 23 hours of the day and the other six days of the week. But combining your willingness to try new things with my well-supported methods is very likely to create positive, lasting change in your life.