Kathryn Patrick

My practice is rooted in the belief that we are all doing our best in this life; at the same time, we have experiences wherein our best efforts to reduce pain and misery–or to live the life we want–simply do not work. My approach to treating life’s most difficult problems involves balancing the strong desire for change, with the acceptance that change is hard and often slow going. In my clinical work I utilize both sophisticated change strategies (cognitive behavior- and behavior therapy), along with a compassionate acceptance of reality as it is (mindfulness). Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) embraces these two approaches (change and acceptance), and seeks to highlight the dilemmas we face wherein what we want is in opposition with how we live. For example: we want to have meaningful relationships, while we struggle to trust others. A DBT approach looks to resolve these dilemmas with a dynamic understanding of problems in context and a non-judgmental perspective. I have been exten