What is Positive Psychology?

Positive Psychology is an approach to mental wellness that focuses on optimal human functioning. Unlike traditional psychology, which tends to focus more on disorders and problems, Positive Psychology, while acknowledging and addressing painful symptoms, focuses on using your strengths to help overcome your challenges. And the work doesn’t just stop when the symptoms diminish.  Positive Psychology helps us move towards “self-actualization,” where we realize our full potential as human beings. This approach aims to enhance what makes life worth living, whether it be:

• excellence in work,
• fulfillment in relationships,
• mastering hobbies and skills,
• spiritual connectedness, 
• living with purpose and meaning,
• philanthropy, and 
• anything else that is above and beyond ordinary human functioning.

The goal of Positive Psychology is to realize and express your highest potential. 

Stephen embraces Positive Psychology because be believes that his work isn’t done when your symptoms have subsided.  He is dedicated to supporting you being the person you can be and having the best life you possibly can… because you deserve it!

Life Coaching

Life coaching is a structured and practical approach to identify and achieve goals in any given area of one’s life. Stephen partners with you throughout the process, using coaching tools, exercises, visualizations, and homework assignments to support the removal of obstacles, to get clarity on life goals, and to hold you accountable for following through on your commitments. The agenda is yours, as are the goals. In the role of life coach, Stephen will be your best cheerleader and empower you to live with integrity so that you can accomplish what you set out to achieve.

Existential Therapy

At some point in life, we may contemplate the meaning of life, perhaps ponder the eternal questions of philosophy, such as “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, “What happens after I die?”, “What is life all about?”  Sometimes thoughtful people who ask such questions struggle with a strong fear of death (they may not even be aware of having), feel a profound aloneness, or feel that that there is no meaning to life. These can all lead to suffering and a sense of emptiness. Existential therapy can guide your developing a personal philosophy of life that suits your unique set of core values and needs. Stephen can help you through such challenges by empowering you to find meaning and create purpose in your life. 

Spiritual Counseling

Whether of not you grew up in a religious home, follow a particular wisdom tradition, or even believe in God, spiritual counseling is yet another way that can help people feel connected, feel that life has meaning, and feel more at ease with the universe. Falling within the field of Transpersonal Psychology, spiritual counseling looks very different for each person, because each of us has a different understanding of those mystical or abstract aspects of existence. Questions that can be addressed in this work might include, “What connects us all?”, “How can I feel a deep sense of connectedness?”, “What is my understanding of God?”  Spiritual counseling also explores the idea of Self-realization and enlightenment and its various paths.