"We must learn to live as souls on earth."
--Roberto Assagioli. M.D.

In these troubled times more and more people are asking the "big" questions of what has most meaning and value in their lives and how they can live more closely to what is most alive and precious to them. The arena of their inquiry may be personal identity, relationship, work, or spiritual calling and service. Yet, whatever the focus of concern, I have learned that the underlying need is always to find a deeper source of vitality and being, and then to work out the complexities of bringing more of this essential life into daily existence.

My private practice is designed to support those people who are seeking to live such a life in the midst of the challenges and chaos of our present culture and who want to take greater responsibility for their gifts and contributions in response to these conditions. Their intent to do this may arise as the result of a crisis, or it may quietly emerge in the course of living, but I have come to understand that this quest is always a sign that the soul is seeking fuller realization and expression. These people may be leading relatively healthy, integrated lives and still this call of the soul can arise and need wise support and guidance.

I use "soul" here to represent that core of consciousness in each of us that holds the potential of our full, unique, maturity which is seeking realization and expression in our everyday life. I am not using it in a religious context, though this connection can be made. Rather, I use it in its secular existential meaning of human depth and vitality, core qualities and values, and life purpose/direction.

I have spent over forty-five years in the fields of Transpersonal/Spiritual Psychology, working as a teacher, trainer, therapist, consultant, guide both throughout the United States and in Europe and Russia. In this time I have seen a huge growth of interest in the soul and our journey as souls on earth, and over these years I have gradually shaped my private practice to speak directly to this growing need.

The work I do is not psychotherapy, but rather individual consultation on psycho-spiritual issues, with emphasis on expanded awareness, autonomy, responsibility, and consequent greater self-direction and expression.

"The stunning paradox of human spiritual maturity is that,
as we become one with all Life, we also at the same time
become completely and uniquely ourselves"

– Thomas Yeomans, Ph.D.

Private Practice

My private practice has three interrelated formats. These are the Three Session Series, Intermediate Sessions, and Long-term Guiding/Mentoring.

Three Session Series

This series is designed for people in acute crisis, or transition, who need short-term support. The primary focus is to develop a creative orientation to a particular life challenge. Sessions are conducted over a six week period (one every two weeks) with self-reflection and writing in-between. Usually, the six week time frame is sufficient for reorientation to the opportunity the crisis affords. However, if additional work is needed, we can extend the series by a few sessions. The time-limited approach emphasizes the development of a creative response to the crisis, and brings the underlying soul issues to the foreground. This enables the client to acknowledge the true nature of the crisis as well as to gain perspective on the psychological issues that are also always involved at a critical change point in one's life.

Intermediate Sessions

The Intermediate Series is designed to deepen and amplify the work of the Three Session Series and fill out the inner and outer possibilities that have developed. The work may include up to seven sessions. The spacing of the meetings is tailored to the specific needs of the client and there may be interim reading and writing that supports the client's process.

A range of issues can be covered, including personal, relational, spiritual, vocational, health, and life-style, in order to integrate and make the most use of the learning arising from the crisis, or transition, in daily life.

Long-term Guiding/Mentoring

This series is a mutually contracted on-going relationship designed to support the client's soul journey within the context of his, or her, personal, professional, and social life. It is designed to help a person to deepen the connection, to his, or her, soul in the midst of a largely soulless, and increasingly chaotic, culture, and to provide support in cultivating increasing spiritual strength and resilience, courage and wise choices, and greater creative expression in the personal, professional, and social spheres of living.

The work has two aspects. The first aspect is to expand and deepen soul awareness through discernment of one's deeper being, unique gifts, and vocation. The second aspect is to confront, and work creatively with, the many psycho-spiritual challenges and opportunities that life presents us, including transitions, identity issues, relationships, vocation, health, aging, expansion of commitment, and, generally, the complex process of spiritual maturation and becoming a fully human person.

Both aspects of the Long-term Guiding/Mentoring invite and challenge us, first, to find our particular path as a soul on earth and then to stay on it toward an increasing experience of personal mastery and mature soul-realization. This series may include periodic reading and writing. The spacing of the sessions is usually one a month, but it can be tailored to the client's particular needs and process. All formats can be varied according to a person's particular needs, and, if need be, the work can be done via phone, Skype, or email, to make it available to people from other regions and countries.

Special Focus

Within my general practice I am developing a specific focus on the issues that men confront in two particular periods of their lives. The first is at the beginning of adulthood, the 20's, when they are leaving adolescence behind and establishing themselves in the world. The second is the post-major career phase, the 60's, 70's, and 80's when issues of aging, mortality, vulnerability, life-meaning, and deeper soul-expression come to the fore in their experience. Men are often quite isolated in these two periods and left to fend for themselves. Long-term Guiding/Mentoring can be a great resource at these times to help them stay on course.

Teaching/Training/Consulting

I also occasionally teach professional training seminars on Soul Process Work. The aim here is to educate professionals to be sensitive to the soul in their client's experience and to be able to work skillfully within this spiritual context to strengthen and support their client's soul connection. It also aims to educate the professional to increase the client's capacity to bring these spiritual resources directly into their daily life--for healing, growth, and increased self-expression.

The seminars are both didactic and experiential, and include demonstration, practicum, and group dialogue. Specific formats and costs are available upon request.

I am glad to speak further about these various forms for this soul process work and hope it is of interest to you and/or to others you may know who need this particular kind of support and/or training.