Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy

I believe therapy is a joint venture. It takes both of us to create expertise about your unique psychology, soul, and spirit… tune in to your self-knowledge, and explore how that voice calls you. (dp)

​I make use of 45 years of experience in the various specialties listed below, and I also work with people who “just don’t feel right,” people who have that existential empty feeling, and a longing or a seeking for meaning. I also explore the sexuality/spirituality split which so many of us have suffered from; and finally, psychotherapy with writers, artists, and musicians.

Areas of Specialty
  • Trauma, Sexual or Otherwise
  • PTSD, Including Combat Veterans
  • Sex Therapy with individuals and couples, LGBTQ friendly and experienced with modern understandings of blending, fluidity, and non-binary identity​
  • Archetypal Psychology & Psychotherapy (Jungian orientation)​
  • Existential Psychotherapy
  • The "Spirit/Sex" Split (SSS -- see blog)
  • Psychotherapy with writers, artists, and musicians
  • Equine Assisted Psychotherapy — see EAP page on this website
45
years
experience
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Credentials, Associations, and Ethics
  • 45 years experience practicing Clinical Psychology and Counseling in Independent Practice
  • Massachusetts Licensed Psychologist #2009, granted 1978, with Clinical Psychology specialty
  • Member: American Psychological Association
  • Member: Massachusetts Psychological Association
  • Listed in good standing: National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology

As a member of the American and Massachusetts Psychological Associations, I adhere to the Ethical Standards for the Practice of Psychology as published and promulgated by those professional organizations. In 45 years, the Massachusetts Psychology Board has received no complaints about my practice (nor has any other professional body).

In addition, I seek to practice in good faith according to my own conscience and good will, and the best interests of the patient. If you have any concerns about anything you experience in treatment with me, please bring them up with me right away.

"Those of us who have PTSD from sexual trauma are afraid to be in our bodies, and in our selves."(Patient of Dr. Pearne's)

Psychotherapy often spirals down to recovering the courage to love.​(dp)

For An Appointment Please Call: (508) 877-3200 Most Insurances Accepted​Remote Services Available via Phone and Skype

Tao Studies Center

Tao is harmonizing with nature, from the forest out there that you walk in, to your internal heart, brain, and other organs, which need to be treated with awe and love. If seeking Tao, seek to be one with the flow of nature, inner and outer. The forest is within you. Your heart is out in the forest. Inner peace awaits. (dp)

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​The Tao Studies Center is the other track of my practice. I founded and organized the Center in October, 2015 as a non-profit, educational institute. It is intended for many levels of participants, from beginners curious about Tao, to those coming for therapy, to long-time practitioners who want to explore Tao further in a supportive environment, or who want to take their spiritual or therapy work further/deeper in various areas of Tao.

The Tao Studies Center work consists of one-on-one collaborations with me on an introduction to Tao, followed by the study and practice of the philosophy of Tao and its use in pursuing a more harmonious spiritual and practical life, and seeking inner peace.

To these ends, you might begin by working with me toward familiarity with the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu (aka Lao Tze, Laozi, circa 500 BC). According to legend, this lyrical yet earthy work, whose title translates approximately as “a book about the power and the virtue of the way,” was written unwittingly in the following manner: As Lao Tzu was fleeing for his life from one Chinese state into the next, a border guard stipulated that, “Before you leave here, write down everything you know!” Lao Tzu was making haste to disappear from some local King who had banished him from grace, and from the state, for displeasing the Court, with his intuitive leaps of imagination and predictions, and for suggesting military strategy which the king deemed to be too yielding, and based on magic. The resulting collection of 81 poems, which Lao Tzu dashed off under the duress of the border guard and the King’s executioner, has inspired and enchanted scholars, philosophers, and seekers alike, for millennia, throughout the world and all its 64 corners.

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While getting acquainted with this timeless work, you might choose to study with me a number of practices which many consider to be derived from, or heavily influenced by, Taoist thought. We arrive at these study directions together, based on what we both feel may serve you the most. These areas are listed below.

There are also monthly group discussion/activity gatherings, in which we 1) focus on an agreed-upon Verse (also called “Chapters”) from the Tao Te Ching, drawing from any of the thousands of translations that have been written in 2,500 years around the world – and often comparing translations of the Verse, which can be a particularly important and enlightening process; 2) throw a hexagram from the I Ching, for reflection on an agreed-upon question, and for teaching the intention of the I Ching; and 3) finish with light exercise from Qi Gong or Tai Chi Basics.

Areas of Tao Study and Practice
  • Tao Te Ching
  • I Ching, Book of Changes
  • Qi Gong​
  • Intro Tai Chi​
  • Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) such as Acupuncture (theory only) and Acupressure (incl. Reflexology) contrasted with Modern Western Medicine
  • The loving arts of the Kama Sutra and comparison to Tantra
  • Additional areas depending on your wishes and purposes
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Note: The Tao is not a religion — it is a philosophy (although there is a minority of practitioners/teachers who disagree with that statement as their starting point). There is no pressure to become part of any “sect ” or “worshipping” group, because there is none. I do not position myself as a “master,” or one who has the final answer to anything. I see myself as a student like anybody else who comes to the Tao Studies Center. I suggest areas of focus, bring whatever understandings I have gathered in 45 years of study and practice, and I invariably learn a great deal from the “students” I am “teaching.” As I stated earlier, there are people who are Taoist Masters, but there are not a great many of them in these times, and I am certainly not one. (And, I imagine there will be more Masters again, given the endless cycles of history, this moment, and the future –- or perhaps they are already here in the world, but in hiding.)

I am a Certified Qi Gong Instructor and Level 1 Tai Chi Instructor. Training and certification obtained at the New England School of Tai Chi, Massachusetts, under the tutelage Dr. Aihan Kuhn, C.M.D..DIPL. OBT, Tai Chi Master, Qi Gong Master, Sword Master, Tai Chi Fan Master, Martial Staff Master, President, Tai Chi & Qi Gong Healing Institute, Sarasota, FL (See www.taichihealing.org)

Equine Assisted Therapy

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  • Click here to read the full article by Dr.
  • Dennis Pearne and Beth Timlege on Equine
  • Assisted Psychotherapy, from Massachusetts
  • Horse magazine, June/July 2009 issue
  • www.mahorse.com
Resources
  • Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA)
  • National Association of Riding for the Handicapped (NARHA)
  • Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl)
  • Massachusetts Horse magazine