Services Overview

Psychotherapy services overview

Whether you have had counseling previously or this is your first time seeking help, it is common to have questions about your potential therapist and the therapy process. You are hiring the therapist to provide an invaluable service for you. It is important that you feel informed, respected and assured that you are receiving quality care.

I have 29 years experience providing individual, relationship and group psychotherapy to adults. I have managed my own psychotherapy practice since 1988 and full time since 1994.

Clinical style and approach

I am a seasoned therapist who stays current with psychosocial issues and clinical developments. I am dedicated to providing a compassionate, confidential, and professional service. I offer an authentic and down-to-earth style that is wrapped with genuine interest, warmth and compassion, and sprinkled with splashes of humor.

I am equipped to draw from a breadth of clinical genres and professional experiences. Depending on the client’s needs my therapy approach may intertwine aspects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, trauma-healing theory, emotional intelligence theory, queer theory, humanist, feminist, oppression and multicultural theories, relational psychotherapy, imagery and visualization, and psycho-dynamic theory.

Who I serve

I welcome people who feel outside of mainstream counseling settings because they are LGBTQ+, engage in alternative sexual lifestyles, distrust mental health professionals or authority figures, and/or engage in community organizing or policy-making that addresses social injustices. In addition to serving adults from majority culture backgrounds, I also have clinical experience and training, (and provide training to other mental health, medical, and educational professionals), with people from diverse sexual, gender, race, class, ability, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. I am committed to providing a counseling experience that collaboratively balances what I can bring to the process and with the client’s unique experiences, diverse identities, strengths, and needs.

(For more information see Who I Serve)

Client issues
I help people address the following issues:

• Anxiety, fear, anger, shame and depression
• Trauma, PTSD and dissociation
• Self-care and stress
• Relationship (staying together and uncoupling)
• Sexual health
• LGBTQIA / GSRM (gender, sexual, and romantic minorities)
• Compassion fatigue, oppression fatigue and vicarious trauma

For more detailed information about my services, policies and background see:

Frequently Asked Questions
Psychotherapy Services and Policies:  Rights and Responsibilities of Client and Therapist (PDF)
Description of Client Issues Addressed by Irene (PDF)
Becoming a Client with Irene (PDF)
About the Therapy Process with Irene (PDF)

To learn about the individual and relationship, group and training services offered by Irene, schedule your complimentary 30 minute consultation.