We come to therapy to understand and solve our most complex personal challenges. When suffering goes deep enough, therapy is an intuitive response to problems that are emotionally complex and cannot be solved by our ordinary methods. Therapy alleviates our isolation by giving us the specialized and dedicated attention of a therapist. Therapy restores or kindles confidence in our ability to make it through difficult times. Lastly, it gives us some emotional distance, some sense of freedom, from the at times consuming turmoil of our personal lives by stimulating a deeper or broader understanding. I am not a passive presence in the room (or on the screen). I listen carefully for understanding and I tend to interact - openly questioning, searching, and challenging. My roots are psychodynamic and comtemplative, though I tailor my work to each client's unique needs. My personal style is warm, open, and engaging. A particular interest of mine is the relationship between psychological growth and spiritual development. As a long time meditation practitioner, I am drawn to ancient spiritual traditions and to how they can inform and deepen our hectic and restless modern lives.

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

In the first session we'll be checking each other out: you to see how well I listen to your issues and concerns; and me to see how you express yourself and to begin to identify patterns and themes for us to explore as our work develops. My intention in every session is to listen carefully to what you tell me about yourself and to then help you refine your understanding of what's troubling you and what you can do to feel better.

What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?

My main method is empathic listening. This means that I as I listen to you tell the stories of your life I am attending to what you know about yourself as well as to what you do not know about yourself. The feedback I will offer you, as developed from my listening, will help you bridge what you know already about yourself with what you do not know and have come to therapy to discover.

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

My biggest strength as a therapist is my seemingly endless capacity to take an interest in the struggles of my patients. By now in my career I have worked with hundreds of people and yet with every single patient I still feel compelled to engage, challenge, understand, and help.

About John Maris