I look forward to working with your patients, and with you. Please contact me if you have any question about a possible referral, or about medical counseling.

Which patients should you refer?

For Medical and Health Professionals:

How can I help your patients?

As we work together, I can:

• Provide support and information as they navigate the medical system, including counseling about care options, appropriate referrals and recommendations, and “outside the box” problem-solving
  
  
• Prepare them before and during medical therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, using guided imagery and relaxation (shown to improve outcomes and decrease stress)
  
  
• Provide compassionate listening and problem-solving, including life strategies and skills for communication, and address emotional issues
  
  
• Help them find and strengthen their inner resources to promote body/mind/spirit healing through techniques such as guided imagery, stress management, and meditation.

In medical counseling, I meet with people who are dealing with a challenging medical situation, and who can benefit from counsel with a physician who is able to spend significant time addressing a wider variety of issues than is possible in usual medical practice. As a member of the health care team, I provide services which address the integration of body, mind, emotion, and spirit so that the individual is able to focus more completely on the healing process.

As a former family physician, I know how difficult it is to provide this kind of time in a busy practice, and that many of these patients both need a team of health care providers, and often want to find ways to be more personally involved in their own health and healing.

My techniques include guided imagery, meditation, active listening, and others to help people use their internal resources for healing and optimize the treatment response. Together, we find meaning during difficult times. I also work with individuals, couples, and families to facilitate communication in general, and decision-making about medical issues. I help people through their navigation of a complex and often frightening medical system, and a confusing array of complementary and alternative medicine modalities.

Research

There are many research studies that show a connection between personality and psychological issues, emotional stress and specific stressors, and illness. Research shows that the mind can affect immune responsiveness, cortisol levels, and many other biochemical parameters that affect body functions. Studies show that imagery can affect many physiologic functions. There is data showing that pre-operative preparation with guided imagery leads to better outcomes after surgery, including shorter procedures and hospital stays, reduced pain and need for pain medication, and quicker return of intestinal motility. You can access more information about research studies on the Resources page of this website.

Imagery and Surgery

One study showed that listening to specific recorded guided imagery reduced post-op ileus by 50%. Other studies show that guided imagery can reduce intra-operative bleeding, post-op pain, use of pain medication, and hospital days. Listening to personalized recordings (we make these together), using people’s own images, allows this healing intervention to continue in people’s homes, during treatments, and in the hospital.

Meditation

I encourage and teach meditation, which is also very useful for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, creating a sense of perspective, and allowing time to be spent in a deeply relaxed state. There are extensive studies that show, among other benefits, that meditation reduces heart rate and blood pressure, allows quicker recovery from stressor impacts (reduces inappropriate emergency response), and is very effective in controlling and reducing pain.

Which patients should you refer?

I am available for referrals of patients with acute and chronic diseases, chronic pain, and life-threatening illness. Also, I work with individuals and/or their partners/families who have situations that could include, among others, fertility, parenting, illness, elders, dementia, and end of life.

I do grief counseling.

I work with stress management, anxiety, and depression, both endogenous and situational, especially related to illness.

I help people prepare for surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, and make a recording for the individual that includes relaxation and situation-specific imagery, including his/her own images.

I look forward to working with your patients, and with you. Please contact me if you have any question about a patient you are considering for referral. Also, I am available to you as a resource in my area of expertise. Feel free to call me with a specific or general question unrelated to any referral, and I will be happy to discuss it with you. I am also available to present information, in person or electronically, to you and your associates.