I am a Clinical Psychologist in Cleveland, Ohio and I provide psychological treatment through the life span, for children and adolescents, adults and seniors.  I have treated children as young as 4 years old up to seniors as old as 75.  No matter the age, my mission is always to meet my clients exactly where they are in their emotional space.  I have no preconceived ideas about age, gender, race, orientation, status.  It may sound like a cliche, but each client truly is unique. In practice that means eliminating assumptions.  Clients are not labels or diagnoses; they are persons with complex histories and unique perspectives. My job is not to "get in their head" or analyze them, but to join them in that unique perspective so that together we can unravel the threads that led to distress and unhappiness.  We are a team from the moment we first make contact until we are done.

I feel that my life experiences have given me a unique awareness of life's challenges, uncertainties, and surprising opportunities. I was  born and grew up in Romania during the repressive communist regime of Ceausescu and I spent nearly a year in a refugee camp as a young adult.  I immigrated to the United States  where I started life with a small suitcase of clothes  donated by rescue organizations, some English that I had learned on my own, and a $20 gift from the American government. The unknown future was ahead of me, untethered from everything that I ever knew, people, places, language, traditions, expectations - everything was new and unknown.  I remember a frequent occurrence, early on when my English comprehension was limited:  someone would say something that I could not understand, and when I indicated, the person would repeat what they had originally said, only saying it louder.  I think of that often because for therapy to work, I must listen attentively and carefully so that I can hear and understand where clients "are," their doubts and anxieties, and the things they want to say but do not know how or fear to say.  Because, at the end of the day, therapy is about communication, understanding, and collaboration.

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