Kerry Gordon Ph.D., Clinical Member OSP

My Background

I have been in private practice working with couples, individuals, and groups since 1992. But it was when my father died in 1986 that my relationship with psychotherapy really began. His death was the tipping point in a series of events that pulled the rug from under my life. All that I had expected and depended on seemed to suddenly vanish. I was overcome with a sense of hopelessness and despair.  But I have come to realize that what seemed so unbearable at the time was actually a rare gift. If not for the profound emotional and spiritual crisis that touched my life I would never have reached out for help. Finding a sympathetic psychotherapist to guide me I began a journey that took me below the surface and into the depths of who I really am. Every day in my role as a psychotherapist I am aware that more than any other aspect of my training it has been my personal journey that has influenced how I work with others.

It was in doing my own psychotherapy that the most amazing thing happened; after years of frustrated searching, I finally discovered my calling. I realized that I could serve others as I had been served by helping them transform their suffering into a meaningful experience. It was at that point, as I turned 40 that I returned to school to earn my BA in psychology and a PhD in the Philosophy of Psychology. I was also fortunate enough to meet a talented psychotherapist under whose supervision I studied and practiced for 5 years. The result has been an eclectic approach to psychotherapy that embraces Jungian, body-centered, humanistic/existential, transpersonal, and cognitive modalities as well as drawing on principles from the Eastern, Western and Native spiritual traditions.

As a psychotherapist one of my greatest rewards is working with couples. I passionately believe that relationship is an art that can be learned through commitment, effort and practice. Couples therapy offers a powerful container in which the true meaning of “sacred marriage” can be explored and experienced. Joseph Campbell said that the sacred marriage - that relationship which brings us heart to heart and soul to soul – “is not a simple love affair, it’s an ordeal, and the ordeal is the sacrifice of ego to a relationship in which two become one.” For me this is more than philosophy, it is an experience that I have shared in my 19 year marriage to Philippa, my beloved and best friend. Our relationship was forged in therapy and nourished through the depth of awareness that we discovered in the process. It has allowed us to open our hearts and receive both the light and the dark that we are and are for each other. It has given us the courage to reveal our deepest wounds knowing that we will be received. Therapy taught us what it means to be in the service of love. My commitment as a therapist is to share my experience with others by helping them discover the sacred in their own relationships.

I bring a very holistic approach to psychotherapy. From this perspective individual experience is understood within a greater context, as an interconnected web of relationships. Not only are we intimately connected to our self and other human beings but to all life, the planet and the universe itself. The realization of our connectedness is the core spiritual experience that gives our life vitality and meaning. It is also a basis for psychotherapeutic healing. To be effective, psychotherapy cannot simply be about my suffering. How can we hope to heal ourselves unless we understand that we are part of a greater whole? How can we hope to live a meaningful, fulfilling life without allowing that we simultaneously affect and are affected by all that exists around us? The realization of our connectedness shakes us out of our hopeless despair and calls on us to participate in the service of life and relationship.

I have been fortunate in having spiritual teachers who have led me to understand that healing the soul, which is the literal meaning of psychotherapy, can only occur in opening our hearts and minds to a world of connectedness and relationship. My studies in Tibetan Buddhism with Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche and the T’Salagi medicine way with Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, Cherokee elder, healer and wisdom teacher continue to have an enormous impact in the way that I practice psychotherapy.

If you resonate with my background and want to explore a unique approach to psychotherapy, I invite you to contact me for an initial consultation. I look forward to meeting and working with you.

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