About Qatana
When I consider my 35 years of experience as a psychologist, hypnotherapist, and marriage and couples counselor, I feel deep gratitude for the satisfaction of helping my clients create the life and relationship that they long for and deserve. I feel privileged to be part of a process that empowers people to transform their lives for the better.
Psychologist
My professional development began with graduate school at the University of Oregon, where I earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1978. During my graduate training I focused on relationships: marital therapy, family therapy, sex therapy and helping people through the difficult process of separation and divorce. My first post-doctoral job was at the Boston University School of Medicine where, as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology), I specialized in stress management and behavioral medicine – the treatment of medical problems, such as headache and hypertension, through behavioral interventions including relaxation training, hypnotherapy and biofeedback.
For over 35 years I have been practicing hypnotherapy, which I find to be the most powerful and effective tool for bringing about positive change.
Couples Therapist – Marriage Therapist
I have been in private practice for thirty years. During this time I have deepened my expertise in relationship therapy through certification in the Imago Therapy© work developed by Harville Hendrix, author of the book, Getting the Love You Want specialize in helping couples beyond the crisis of infidelity, to create a relationship stronger than it has ever been.
Inner Wisdom and Interactive Imagery
I grew up like you probably did, with no awareness whatsoever of my own Inner Wisdom. For me this changed dramatically and unexpectedly when I was about 30. I was wrestling with a major life decision, plagued by doubt and uncertainty. Suddenly, the awareness came to me with absolute clarity – the choice I must make became apparent. With this certainty, coming from within, all doubt dropped away.
At that moment I experienced enormous relief. Not only did I know the path I must take, but, even more important, I had discovered an inner resource I knew I could trust to guide me. The decision I made that day has shaped my life in ways I could not have imagined at the time affirming my faith in my Inner Wisdom. (Tolearn the details of this story click here).
I came to Interactive Imagery with a great deal of resistance. I first learned of it from el Bucholtz, a trusted friend and mentor. When Mel, a highly skilled hypnotherapist, told me that Interactive Imagery was simply the most powerful and effective approach he had ever encountered, I thought he’d gone off the deep end. The process sounded incredible circumstances that led to my feeling indebted to Mel, I ended up experiencing Interactive Imagery. Indeed, I found it to be the most powerful experience of learning, healing and growth I’d known to that time. To put it simply, it knocked my socks off. (To learn more about this experience, click here).
Since then Interactive Imagery has been my own path of learning, healing and growth, a deeply spiritual path. It is without a doubt the most powerful, precise, efficient and effective tool I know for helping my clients transform their lives for the better. Twenty five years later, I remain in awe of this process.
I work out of my home in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where I live with my husband and our dog named Zoe. I love taking walks and hiking, canoeing, and kayaking, skiing (both downhill and cross-country), gardening and travel.
About the Name Qatana
For most of my professional life, I have been known as Jeannette, the name that was given to me at birth.
When I was in my 20’s, I had a dream. In this dream I was giving birth to a girl. I was told that this girl needed to be named Qatana and that Qatana needed to be spelled Q-a-t-a-n-a. This may have been the only time in my life that I have ever done lucid dreaming. I said, No way! No one will ever be able to spell Qatana. Everyone is going to want to put a “u” after the “q”. Being in my 40’s, I realized that I would never have a daughter. I understood that I was giving birth to myself in that dream.From t time, in sacred space, such as when I lead workshops or participate in Vision Quests, I have been called Qatana. Outside those co-texts, I kept that name a secret.
The time has come to go public with Qatana. People often ask me if the name Qatana has a meaning. I have been told that the word means precious little girl in Hebrew. It is also the name of a dagger carried by samurai warriors in Japan. I love the complimentarity of these two meanings for my name.