PSYCHOTHERAPY!
Dr. Stern provides:
• individual psychotherapy and marital therapy for adults
• therapy for children, teenagers and their families
• parent consulting/counseling
Adult Psychotherapy:
Dr. Stern has been offering psychotherapy for twenty years to adults for a wide range of problems, including interpersonal and work-related concerns, poor self-confidence, relationship difficulties, stress and anxiety, depression, phobias and OCD, personality issues, eating disorders, loss and grief, and other factors that lead to dissatisfaction and unhappiness in one's life. Dr. Stern works with a lot of young adults (from end of high school through their early twenties) who are "struggling on the launch pad" with becoming independent, confident, self-sufficient adults. It is his great pleasure and privilege to help them figure out who they are, what they want in life, and how to get it.
One thread that runs throughout his work with almost any problem is the belief that we unintentionally repeat certain unhelpful patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving that lead to our unhappiness and dissatisfaction in life. When we learn to be aware of these patterns and how not to follow them in our day-to-day lives, then the possibilities for significant change open up to us. We can then lead authentic, confident and fulfilling lives.
Dr. Stern has had formal training in a variety of theoretical orientations (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal-experiental therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and systems family therapy), and he integrates different treatment approaches for the benefit of each patient. He uses empirically-based treatments that help clients by teaching new skills, building distress tolerance and emotional self-care, enhancing awareness and communication, facilitating personal insight, and challenging maladaptive relationship and thinking patterns. Dr. Stern is interactive, lively and involved in therapy sessions, and you will feel that he is a real human being who is collaborating with you, guiding you toward achieving your goals, and traveling with you through your process of change.
Psychotherapy with Children, Teenagers, Families and Parents:
Dr. Stern also conducts therapy with children, adolescents, parents, and families with depression, anxiety, OCD, Asperger's Disorder, phobias, social skills issues, divorce and separation related issues, death and dying, relationship problems, anger, and behavioral problems. As with his adult psychotherapy, Dr. Stern integrates the many approaches he has learned (cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal-experiental therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and systems family therapy) to fit the child's and teenager's particular personality style and struggles, age, and relationship with his/her parents, the family's particular problems and goals, and the parents' particular child rearing styles.
Dr. Stern also offers brief consultations where he evaluates and explains a child's and/or a family's problems and derives a treatment plan. These consultations typically involve a meeting with the parents, one or two meetings with the child or teenager, and a feedback session. If school problems are involved, Dr. Stern will also speak with the child's teachers and do a school observation as part of the evaluation.
During his doctoral training in clinical psychology, Dr. Stern trained for two years at Children's Hospital in Boston, one of Harvard's training hospitals, and at the affiliated Judge Baker Children's Center. He has worked as a staff psychologist at The Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services and, for five years, as supervising psychologist and director of the externship program at Beth Israel Medical Center's Outpatient Child Psychiatry Services in Manhattan.