Anne M. Vano, Ph.D.

It can be hard to pick a therapist when so many qualified people may be in your area. It is often a connection with a person's words, or a feeling from their photograph, that leads to making a call. For most psychologists, there are specific theories that guide our thinking and approach. My own particular style has developed not only from sitting across from patients for 25 years, but also from my graduate studies, ongoing consultation, and personal therapy.

I consider myself a flexible psychologist who will meet you exactly where you are. With me, the pace for change is thoughtful and gradual. We decide together what the weekly schedule and sessions might look like for the difficulties you are facing. I do not make set prescriptions for "this issue vs. that issue." Instead, from the onset, the work is collaborative and tailored to you specifically.

I hold a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and work with adults, couples, and families.

These are examples, not limits — whatever brings you in, there is room for it here.

Individual therapy

Individual therapy gives you a place to think and feel without judgement — a place away from distractions where you can make meaningful contact with yourself in the presence of a trained professional. It may be a place to grieve, a place to say out loud what once was silenced, a place to dream without inhibition, or a place to practice new ways of being in the world. While therapy is often said to be a “talking cure,” it is also a “listening cure.” The exchanges between patient and therapist, if they are alive and creative, are the links to unlocking whatever is stuck — and transforming it into something new.

Couples therapy

It is not uncommon for couples to seek therapy when their relationship is in a crisis. It is common for partners to feel frustrated when the same fight or disagreement arises time and again — often a sign that there are deeper dynamics at play keeping things going in a negative, painful, repetitive direction. Naturally, frequent arguments erode connection, and couples can easily begin to lose sight of strengths in their relationship. Therapy, surely a place to express upset and pain, can also be a place to recognize capacities inherent to both partners. Through therapy, positive exchanges once buried by conflict can be unearthed.

Family therapy

Families, similar to couples, often seek help when there is a crisis — when hurt feelings have been mounting beyond what is tolerable, or communication has painfully failed too many times. Each person in a family is also a person outside the family, so coming together as a cohesive group is not always easy. I work from the position that what is transpiring in the family is signaling a need for change: why this? why now? Often families are surprised to uncover how their dynamics are actually expressing other hidden feelings — and, in a paradoxical way, the conflict may be the best way in, or back in.

Parenting help

Parents need support. Raising a child, or multiple children, is one of the most transformative experiences in a person’s life, and it can come as a surprise how challenging this endeavor is. Feelings of guilt for negative emotions can be as powerful as loving ones, sending parents into a spiral of shame and silence. It is my strong belief that parents require a particular kind of support: active interventions that help parents understand what is taking place in their children’s minds, as well as their own, so that the dynamic can change into something new and healthy. As kids grow, so must the relationship.