WHY HOUSE CALLS?

When I was a child, doctors made house calls. It was always an important event and a relief when our doctor entered our home with his black bag filled with medical instruments. The doctor’s house calls throughout my childhood had a significant influence on the way I have built my own private practice. I have provided in-home psychotherapy for over twenty years, using “the country doctor” model of treatment, often traveling to distant communities in Oregon. I have patients in Mollala, Sandy, Gresham, Mt. Hood, Tualatin, Tigard, inner and outer East County, as well as in the urban core area of Portland. Over the course of my 20-plus years as a therapist in private practice, medical practice has become increasingly impersonal and more business-centered. In-home therapy is patient-centered. I treat people in their homes because I believe it facilitates a greater level of comfort for discussing highly personal experiences and difficulties. In home counseling also eliminates the types of barriers to treatment that can interfere with the consistency that is necessary for change.

Educational background

I received a Bachelor of Science in Philosophy from Portland State University. Additionally, I completed a Master’s degree in Social Work from Portland State University. Immediately following, I attended Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California and completed a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1996. Pacifica Graduate Institute is the home of Joseph Campbell’s 3,000 book library and archival collection, donated by his widow shortly after his death. I completed a theoretical dissertation entitled Oedipus’ Daughter: The Formation and Function of the Destructive Animus, which can be accessed through the Pacifica Graduate Institute’s library.