Rob Handelman

I work with many men who are either new to psychotherapy, or have been around the block a bit. We have unique challenges, often in the realm of emotional awareness, difficulty with vulnerability and connection, and what it means to be confident, strong and masculine.

Anxiety is usually at the core of much human suffering - often the result of excessive worry, it’s our stress response (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) on overdrive, trying to help us feel safe. Our evolutionary systems are working to protect us from horrible outcomes, and these systems worked well when lions and starvation were the main threats. The threats are different now, but the overactive mind, which we come by honestly and are adaptive, may not be quite as necessary.

Depression is a very complex and painful phenomenon, that has many components. We’ll explore how your depression lives in you, and what will help you move forward in valued directions.

My main therapeutic modality is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which is an experiential therapy, meaning that we do work in the here and now, whether it’s breathing, working in our relationship, awareness exercises or visualization, we strive to get present in the here and now.

I have a flexible, integrative approach that combines techniques from different modalities, to best suit your needs. We tailor our work, which allows for a personalized and effective treatment process.

ACT si a way to help people handle difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them. Instead of trying to fight or control “negative” thoughts or emotions, ACT teaches acceptance, mindfulness, and focusing on what truly matters in life. The goal is to help people take meaningful actions based on their values, even when facing challenges.

Depression is a complex phenomenon, and we will work to learn how depression lives in you and how it impacts how you think, feel and act. This will help us find ways to work with and through it, and to help move forward in important directions.

I work with men who are new to psychotherapy and those who have been around the block a time or two. We face our own unique challenges, often around emotional awareness and expression, and this can manifest in depression, anxiety and relationship and career issues. We work on increasing emotional awareness and sharing in session, as well as being able to communicate and connect better with the important people in our lives.

Anxiety, while distressing tells us that our human systems are working, that we have evolved correctly. However, the threats are no longer lions and starvation, and our minds go into overdrive trying to keep ourselves safe, by over planning and worrying. It tends not to work so well. We work to explore how you feel anxiety, racing thoughts, body experiences, and clarify better ways of relating to your own anxiety so it doesn’t push you around and control your actions.