Hi, my name is James and I have a passion for working with couples, adults and older adults struggling with marriages, careers, retirement and ultimately "finding purpose" in order to help them shape or re-shape their lives while raising the quality of their day to day experience. Since you are reading this I want you to understand that an effective Therapist is really about a number of things: life experiences, expertise, patience, an open mind, compassion as well as a person who can help you make clear and concise goals. One of my favorite sayings is: Whatever you believe that you can do; begin it! (Goethe)

What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?

My job is to listen and learn from you about what you would like to change in your life. Then we meet together to come up with ways for you to move away from suffering and into a more peaceful place in your life. I suggest books and other materials and usually suggest homework in order to provide continuity between sessions. I welcome emails between sessions as well. I prefer the expression "Counseling" over "Therapy" because I believe that suffering can lead to growth and in my view the term "Therapy" suggests that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. "Counseling" on the other hand in my view is more akin to walking down the path of life with another human being for a time and finding new ways to see, experience and grow your life in the face of a failing relationship, a loss of purpose, health challenges or many of the other challenges that we all face in this life.

Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.

In terms of experience, I bring to your sessions over 50 years of living life along with its ups and downs. I worked as an Entrepreneur for about half of my career starting up and managing a couple of companies. Then I fell flat on my face and had to re-group and used Counseling/Therapy as a means to re-craft my life and start a new chapter. It worked! Then I started a corporate career where I worked in creating new products and developing new business as well as consulting and even doing some advocacy work in Washington DC. Long story short, I can pull on a lot of life and work experiences to help you along your path while my training as a Therapist has given me the roadmap and structure to meet you wherever you are and get you the support that you need. When I was about 50, I felt burnt out with business and chasing money and felt a growing passion to find a way to be of service to others. Becoming a Therapist gave me new purpose and meaning as well as humility in my life. It is an honor to be allowed in as a witness to your story, your life and your challenges. My education is also varied; a Bachelor’s Degree from Syracuse University a long time ago, then an MBA from Harvard which was pretty cool and scary and then another Master’s degree in Counseling. I am licensed in California as an LMFT #53141

About James Marrelli