Matthew Cohen – About Us

Nancy Dreyfus, Psy.D.
Whether you are a lawyer or a therapist…a stay-at-home mom or a hippy…we all need some kind of meaningful structure in which to organize our life. People often enter therapy when they can no longer ignore that an important external structure on which they have depended—a crucial relationship or work situation, a spiritual teaching or a therapeutic paradigm--is feeling unfulfilling, rocky or even bankrupt. Painful and disorienting as this can be, such disillusionment is often a doorway to a whole new way of being in the world. I see myself as a kind of "transpersonal scout," orienting people to what it means to live a life based on internal structure—to access and profoundly trust one's own insides in a way that creates an outer life more and more reflecting who you really are.

My own journey began many years ago when, through what one might call either luck or grace, I had an unexpected and, as often is the case, brief experience of feeling whole, independent of any achievement or anyone's particular affection. Thus began what has been called "the hard work miracle" of overhauling a life based on looking good to one about Becoming Real. Now in my late 50s, my life has been an exploration into the question, "What is Real?"...and creating the space for others to feel real to themselves.

My initial clinical training was psychoanalytically-oriented; I was learning classic differentiation theory at the same time I was studying Buddhism and secretly teaching clients to meditate. This tension and synthesis between developmental approaches and my draw to the Mystical, has resulted in a way of working with people where we examine what was subtly internalized in your family-of-origin, as well as looking at the interplay between this energetic input and your sense of how the Universe actually works. We will look at where parts of you might still be operating in a Unfriendly Universe....and learn how, right in the messiness of life, to feel both discomfort and a larger Benevolence.

I have been a formal member of The Pathwork and an instructor in the Advaita-based Sedona Method. I have been informed by Hendrix's Imago theory, Schnarch's work on differentiation and intimacy, and Barron's work on Emotive Subself Healing. I have taught manifestation classes, but understand enough about unconscious programming to consider The Secret as not telling the whole story. I embrace a perspective which posits that underneath our very real childhood wounding is the existential, non-pathological Human condition of Essential Rawness paired with Essential Wholeness. I believe that we are just beginning to learn what it means to be fully human…that we have many different parts, and the trick is to know these parts without fusing with them. I believe I bring a great deal of clarity and heart to the therapeutic process, and that my openness about my flaws and limitations will serve you as well as my gifts.

To contact call 610-896-5551