Therapy for older adults
For people in later life who are facing a great deal of change at once, or who find that something from long ago is asking, finally, to be looked at. Psychotherapy in person in Vero Beach or by video from home anywhere in Florida.
Later life is full of transitions.
Retirement ends a structure that may have organized forty years of days. A move, often to Florida, often away from children and old friends, removes the familiar streets and the people who knew you before. Bodies change, and health appointments begin to take up more of the calendar. Friends and siblings die. Some people find themselves caring for a spouse, and some find themselves on the receiving end of care they did not want to need.
Any one of these would be a significant adjustment. In later life they tend to arrive together, with less time between them to recover. The result is often not a crisis but a slow wearing down: less interest in things, more worry, a shortness with people, or a sense of being unmoored. I write about the general shape of this on the life transitions page.
Old histories that surface now.
Many people now in their sixties, seventies and eighties grew up in families and a culture where difficult things were simply not discussed. You got on with it. Childhood harm, wartime experience, losses, marriages that were harder than anyone knew: these were put away, sometimes for decades, because there was work to do and a family to raise.
Later life can take away the busyness that kept them put away. Retirement, a death, or a quieter house removes the structure, and material that was held at a distance begins to return in dreams, in unexplained sadness, or in reactions that seem too large for the present situation. This is not a sign that something is wrong with you. It is often the first time there has been room for it.
The work does not require reliving everything. It proceeds at a pace you can manage, with attention to what your system can hold. The complex trauma page describes that pacing in more detail.
Loss accumulates.
In later life, grief is rarely a single event. It is a partner, then a close friend, then a brother, along with losses that do not involve death at all: a house, a role, a driver's license, the version of yourself that could do certain things without thinking. These can stack up faster than any one of them can be absorbed. The grief and loss page describes how I think about grief as the reorganization of a whole life rather than a set of stages.
In the office or from home.
Sessions happen in person at the office at 100 Vista Royale Blvd. in Vero Beach, or by secure video from home anywhere in Florida. If video is unfamiliar, we can take a few minutes at the start to make it straightforward. You do not need to be comfortable with technology to use it.
Therapy here is not a medical service, and I do not give advice about medications, diagnoses or health conditions. Where you have doctors involved in your care, therapy sits alongside them. With your written permission I can coordinate with them; without it, I share nothing.
This practice is private pay and out of network. No insurer is billed directly, and a superbill is provided for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Current fees are on the rates page.
It is not too late for this to be worth doing.
People sometimes wonder whether there is any point beginning therapy at seventy or eighty. I understand the question. My view is that the nervous system goes on responding to relationship and attention for as long as we are alive, and that there is value in being understood, and in understanding yourself, at any age.
I cannot promise you any particular result, and outcomes vary from person to person. What I can offer is a steady, unhurried place to look at what your life has held, and what you would like the rest of it to feel like. The principles behind that are on the how I work page.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do you take Medicare?
- This practice is private pay and out of network; no insurer is billed directly. A superbill is provided for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Ask your plan what it covers before you start; the rates page lists the questions to ask.
- Can my adult child contact you on my behalf?
- They can call to ask general questions, but therapy begins with you. The free consultation is a conversation with the person who would be coming to sessions.
- Can my spouse come to some sessions?
- Yes, where that is useful and you both agree. Couples work is also available as its own format.
Therapy outcomes vary from person to person. No result is promised or guaranteed.