Hi. I’m Joseph.
It’s a pleasure to meet you.

• As a clinician: accepting, affirming, open-minded

• My counseling style: empathic, equanimous, enthusiastic

• My goals for my clients: safety, discovery, agency

With Couples and Relationships

• Conflict

• Communication/Connection

• Children/Parenting

• Relationships Issues

• Values/Beliefs

• Differences/Boundaries

• Affairs/Infidelity

• Trauma Issues

• Premarital Counseling

• Proactive Couple Therapy

With Sexuality (Individual and Relational)

• Sexual Desire

• Non-Traditional Relationships

• OCSB (aka “sex addiction”)

• Body Shame/Body Dysmorphia and Sexuality

• Sexuality and Trauma

• Sexuality and Religion

• Sexuality throughout the lifespan

1. We all deserve safety.

   We deserve safe and secure connection – to give and receive emotional responsiveness and accessibility, to see and be seen and accepted, to value and be valued in our entirety, to give and receive support and comfort. On the other hand, lack of safety is a major source of our distress. It disconnects us. It isolates us. It stokes our fears, anxieties, and deep-seated shames, causing us to abandon and disown precious parts of our authentic selves. In a world fraught with danger, I will offer you a safe space, and I will help you discover and facilitate for yourself the safety and connection that you long for in your life. 

2. Vulnerability is our path to authentic self and successful living.

   Our emotions are precious and powerful energies surging within and between us. When difficult circumstances poke at the most tender parts of our inner selves, we can find ourselves consumed by dynamic, instantaneous, reactive, protective emotions like anger, fear, and disgust, all before we seemingly have a chance to register a rational thought. I do not view such emotions as offensive ways of being to be judged or condemned. Instead, I perceive them as treasured expressions to be cherished, valued, felt, and understood. Our emotions are often our most true, most direct paths to the essence of our authentic selves. I will hold your emotions with ceaseless empathy and partner with you to process and reorder them with open-mindedness, unending curiosity, and compassion-laden insightfulness. Together, we will discover and realize safety within your vulnerability so that you can release the authentic, successful life that is already inside of you. 

3. Our change is our growth.

   Our problems are a paradox of our human condition, a dual source of some of our deepest pains and some of our most profound opportunities for growth. Realizing this growth through a journey of change is usually difficult for us all – accepting our predicaments and facing our problems head on, licking our wounds after our attempts to repair fail, picking ourselves up and mustering the motivation to try again, to hope again…I will never judge you at any step of this demanding journey. Rather, I will nurture you with a safe, compassionate space. In our sessions, I will aspire to understand, celebrate, and integrate every part of you. You will find an empowering environment from which to unlock and expand your inner resources and unleash your authentic self within your life and within the problems that you face. 

Thank you for clicking that mouse to read my story! I’m honored. 

Although I am just now coming to the helping field in my middle life, it feels like destiny that my incurable love for people and my unending curiosity about people has finally guided me here.  

From the beginning, my childhood (spent in Jamaica!) was full of psychology-oriented conversations with my mother who I observed earn a master’s therapy degree and embark on an eventful counseling career. 

During undergrad, I took several courses in sociology and philosophy, and I regularly found myself seeking out readings in psychology. Later in my educational pursuits, I routinely incorporated insights from music therapy research within graduate papers for my master’s in music theory and doctorate in church music. 

Finally, my journey led me into direct service of couples when I started officiating weddings. This began when several young adults whom I had mentored in music as high schoolers asked me to officiate their weddings. These precious encounters led me into professional wedding officiating. I created the YourFun!Officiant method, a process which aims to provide couples with an affirming, empowering space through personalized wedding ceremonies constructed on a detailed immersion into their love story. This work has connected me beautifully to the vast sociocultural diversity displayed by couples. I’ve had the great pleasure of celebrating the beauty of blended family couples, mixed race couples, homosexual couples, interfaith couples, non-religious couples, gamer couples, 420 couples, and so many more. 

Nurtured by the feedback and encouragement from my wedding clients, a yearning grew within me to expand my capacity to serve couples. That yearning burgeoned into my present pursuit of a marriage and family therapy master’s degree and the internship position at Pivotal Counseling. 

I have experienced life-giving joy from transcendent achievements and successes. I have also suffered debilitating shame from life-crushing mistakes and failures. In me, you’ll find a soul that holds unending hope and positivity for you who is also passionate about sitting with you in your most deep, painful places and holding you with compassion. I hope to promote your healing with my open heart and open mind. I am eager to be molded by our interactions – for clients are a therapist’s best teacher. As my favorite African proverb from Burkina Faso says: 

“If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go deep, go together.”

I look forward to going deep with you.