Research shows that most important factor in effective psychotherapy is the therapeutic alliance between the patient and therapist and a collaborative approach. With that in mind, Ian's practice is focused in five areas: sex therapy, couples therapy, individual psychotherapy, teen/young adult therapy and peer consultation. Ian also offers a specialized form of combination therapy that integrates couples therapy and sex therapy for patients who want to address sexual and relational issues in parallel.
Ian sees individuals either weekly or every other week, and he generally sees couples every 2-3 weeks. Sessions are a full 60 minutes in length, and couples sessions are often 75 minutes. The overall length of treatment varies: sometimes all it takes is a few sessions to get on the other side of an issue and sometimes more intensive long-term therapy is required. Generally the rough form of a treatment plan becomes clearer after the first session.
All treatment is confidential and follows ethical guidelines as defined by AASECT and AAMFT. To make an appointment, please contact Ian via email.
“If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
you must first allow it flourish.
If you want to take something,
you must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
of the way things are.
The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results.”
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
(translated by Stephen Mitchell)
Ian also works with individuals who are experiencing anxiety, depression and other life challenges. Living as we do in a world of choice and possibility, many of us also feel an accompanying lack of external structure and experience a sense of groundlessness. Ian works with patients to excavate and articulate a "design for life" and to implement the structures, routines and habits that bestow our lives with a sense of meaning and accomplishment.
Read more about Individual Therapy with Ian
Couplehood is filled with challenges that unfold over the life-cycle. Most relationships come with periods of heightened tension, unrest and crisis, and, even in the best of times, managing a relationship can be stressful. Regardless of the reasons you are seeking couples therapy — money, sex, parenting — Ian provides a fresh perspective that will help you constructively communicate, secure your attachment, resolve issues and evolve as a couple so that you are better able to manage problems in the future.
Read more about Couples Therapy with Ian
As a sex therapist, Ian works with both individuals and couples on challenges that are common to the “American bedroom” but often lead to lives of quiet desperation. He welcomes all forms of sexual orientation and takes a sex-positive stance. Ian encourages patients to understand, embody and express their desires and identities from a position of “sexual authenticity.”
Read more about Sex Therapy with Ian
Sex problems and relationship problems often go hand in hand, so it’s only natural that most couples want to deal with both simultaneously. As a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified sexuality counselor with deep clinical experience, Ian has developed a form of combination therapy that seamlessly integrates couples and sex therapy into a single process, allowing couples to work in parallel on sex and relationship issues from the very first session.
Read more about Combination Couples Therapy/Sex Therapy with Ian
Sex is a topic that is invariably on your patients’ minds, but to what extent does it enter the clinical conversation? It’s not uncommon for both patient and therapist to collude in avoiding sex-related issues due to mutual discomfort, or for a therapist to feel de-skilled when addressing sexuality. Many therapists will simply avoid the conversation altogether. This is unfortunate, as the field of sex therapy has a rich and accessible history of clinical theory and a body of practices that lend themselves well to integration with individual psychotherapy and/or couples therapy. To that end, Ian is occasionally able to make himself available to clinicians for case consultation and individual/group supervision.
Read more about Case Consultation and Supervision with Ian
Sessions are 60 minutes in length and Ian sees individuals either weekly or every other week. He generally sees couples every 2-3 weeks.