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How I Can Help

I provide individual, couples, and family therapy, as well as supervision and consultation. I approach each of these services as a collaborative effort, with curiosity, care, and thoughtfulness.

Start with a Conversation
A hiking trail diverges into 2 paths into the trees

Therapy Should Be a Space of Mutual Learning

What can be expected in each conversation as we cultivate a therapeutic relationship for long-term growth:

1. Developing an Understanding​

Whether meeting with individuals, couples, families, friends or colleagues, I first work hard to understand the problem or dilemma deeply, with nuance and inviting of complexity.  As I develop an appreciation for what brings people to meet with me, I am curious about their hopes and ideas of how our work may be helpful.

I pay close attention to both a person’s inner world and the relationships and external factors affecting their life. While learning about the problem or dilemma, I track how it navigates in and between people cyclically, slowing down the scene to pinpoint its effects on the person’s sense of self and others, and in turn those actions taken or not.

I ask about familiarity with the problem or dilemma prior to now, perhaps in the family of origin, workplace, or society.  

As its  history and presence are  better understood, I explore aspects of the person’s lived experience that may help to hold it in place, and moments in which it is not present.

I work to weave these different explorations into a compassionate understanding of the problem that I am transparent about and am open to revision.

From here, we are able to determine what possibilities are in store for 1) the problem or dilemma, and 2) life lived outside of the problem or dilemma.

Individual Therapy

I provide individual therapy to persons in search of meaning-making, connecting the dots of lived experiences and preferences.

Individuals

Couples Therapy

I help couples improve their communication with one another, inviting them to listen and be together in new ways.

Couples
Family icon

Family Therapy

I work with families in all of life’s stages. Relationships might be close or distant, loving or troubling, nourishing or depleting.

Families

Supervision

I offer clinical supervision and consultation to individual therapists and practices, as well as training to agencies and programs. 

Professionals

My Therapeutic Approach

Vines growing on a weathered barn door

I maintain a systemic-relational approach, meaning I focus on understanding persons within the larger context of their relationships and environments. 

‘Systemic’ refers to the ‘interplay between’ as opposed to the ‘isolation of’, while ‘relational’ emphasizes the importance of relationships in shaping behavior and experiences. Together, this approach helps address both personal and relational dynamics in therapy. 

Learn about my Services

Answering your Questions

How long is a session?

Individual sessions are typically 45-50 minutes. Couples and Family sessions are 50-60 minutes. We can plan for additional time, as needed, to ensure our conversation ends at a good point to place a bookmark.

I prefer to meet with new clients on a weekly basis for at least 1-2 months. I find the regular time together to be important as we get to know one another. Nevertheless, we can assess frequency on a regular basis.

Yes! These conversations have the potential to invite topics that are latent at the start. Initially, we will spend time discussing who you are and how you understand you’ve become the person you are.

Your confidence in the fit between you and your provider is an important indicator of therapeutic success. I will gladly provide you with referrals to other psychotherapists.

I’d like to say “Yes!” However, therapy might not be right at the moment. Personal growth and fulfillment can occur in many different settings – at home, work, a religious institution, hiking, listening to music, talking with a friend, reading, etc.

The better question to ask is “when is therapy right for me?” I’d be happy to discuss this question and your answer further with you.

With your permission, yes.

Your confidentiality is important to me. A HIPAA consent form will be signed by you prior to my speaking with another person about you. We will discuss my plan for a conversation with others beforehand, as well as what was discussed after the fact.

There are certain conversations that may require the suspension of confidentiality – such as those in which I believe you or someone else may be in imminent danger.

Good therapy can happen in a single session, and over years. Each therapy is different in that way. We will discuss your progress towards meeting goals as we go.

Endings can be difficult, regardless. Our ending will be a joint decision, in which we go our separate paths. Those paths may end up converging again, should you want a future session or therapy.

I appreciate your interest; however, I do not offer internships nor am I planning to expand from a solo to a group practice at this time.

I offer supervision to licensed professionals interested in further developing a relational and systemic way of understanding individuals, couples, and families in their lived experience.

Have another question?

Billy Benson is a highly skilled, thoughtful therapist who cares deeply about the people he works with. He brings a calm presence and kindness to his conversations with people. His work is collaborative and often those in conversation with him discover knowledge and abilities they did not know they had. If we found ourselves in the kind of difficulties that bring people to therapy, we would consider ourselves fortunate to have Billy by our side.

– Jill Freedman, MSW & Gene Combs, MD

Authors of Narrative Therapy: The Social Construction of Preferred Realities