I take that as a compliment.

People tell me I don't seem
like a therapist.

Not Dr. Hovey, not "your therapist."

Most likely I'll make you laugh at some point in a session when you least expect it. And the work we do together will be yours. Not mine. I'm just the guide to help you transform yourself.

I've been in private practice in West Hartford for over 30 years. I've sat with people at their absolute lowest: grief, loss, loneliness so deep it scared them. I've watched them arrive at places they genuinely never believed were possible.

Just call me ‘Dr. Dave’

How I got here

What made me the therapist I am today wasn’t just grad school. Grad school gave me a foundation, but the real shaping happened in the seven years of additional training I completed alongside several master therapists who changed how I understand people.

They taught me to listen beyond the obvious. Not just to the words someone says, but to the patterns underneath them — the pauses, the protections, the ways people have learned to move through the world. That training changed the way I work, and I’ve been building on it ever since.

I’ve also done my own deep work. Because I don’t believe a therapist can take someone somewhere they haven’t been willing to go themselves. That work keeps me honest, grounded, and able to stay with clients when the work gets deep.

How I think about people

I approach everyone who sits across from me with one foundational belief: there is nothing wrong with you.

You are not broken. You are not a diagnosis. You are a human being responding to what happened to you. I'm far less interested in your diagnosis than in your story.

I also bring something that surprises people: humor. Not to avoid the hard stuff, but to move through it. Sometimes right in the middle of a deep moment, something strikes you as funny. That's not a break from the work. That IS the work.