I am a licensed marriage and family therapist with extensive experience working with adults, adolescents, children, and couples.

My clinical approach is devoted to providing a holistic and comprehensive treatment that incorporates emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal solutions, tailored to the specific needs of my clients.

I help adults work through concerns related to depression, anxiety, loss, addiction, recovery, and life transitions. I help children and teens with personal identity, self-esteem, family conflict, and setting and achieving goals. I help families find solutions to conflicts through encouraging, compassionate, and supportive parenting practices. And I help couples to improve boundaries, communication, intimacy, and partnership with each other.

Education

  • Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, summa cum laude, with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, from the University of San Francisco
  • Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Santa Cruz

Credentials

  • California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, MFC #46396
  • Oregon Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, #T2012
  • Off-site Supervisor, The Maple Counseling Center

Advanced Training and Certifications

Mindfulness and Self-Compassion:

  • Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification, 2-Year Program (with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach)
  • Growing Up Mindful, Intensive Teacher Training and Certification (with Dr. Christopher Willard)
  • Advanced Activity-Based Mindfulness for Kids (with Susan Kaiser Greenland)
  • The Power of Awareness, 7-Week training (with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach)
  • The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Six-Day Insight Meditation Retreat
  • Certificate in MBSR: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
  • Awakening to Mindfulness, Buddhism and Psychology (with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach)
  • Trust and Self-Compassion (with Kristin Neff, PhD and Brené Brown, PhD)
  • Mindfulness and Anxiety (with Ron Siegel)
  • Certificate in Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Children and Teens
  • Self-Compassion Tools for Teens: Overcoming Shame and the “Inner Critic”

Trauma:

  • Trauma Resource Institute Certified Trauma Resiliency Practitioner
  • Working with Trauma (with Pat Ogden, PhD)
  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Seeking Safety/Trauma & Addiction

Relationships:

  • Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (with Dr. Sue Johnson)
  • Attachment in Psychotherapy

Children and Families:

  • Echo Parenting & Education Certified Trauma-Informed Parenting Educator
  • The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting (with Brené Brown)
  • Awakened Family (with Dr. Shefali Tsabary)
  • Embodied Child Raising
  • Hand in Hand Parenting, Professionals Intensive
  • RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) with Janet Lansbury
  • Play Therapy and Beyond: Treatment Techniques and Strategies with Children and Pre-Adolescents
  • Certified Positive Discipline Parenting Educator

Gender Identity:

  • Gender Expansive Youth: Working with Youth Across the Gender Spectrum (with Caroline Carter, PsyD and Erin Norton, PsyD)
  • Effective and Compassionate Clinical Work for Gender-Expansive Children, Teens and Families (with Susan Landon, LMFT)
  • EDGY Beyond the Binary Conference:
    • Support Starts at Home: Transgender Youth and Their Parents
    • Strategies to Support Families with Gender Expansive and LGBTQ+ Youth
  • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Center for Transyouth Health & Development: Through Science to Justice Conference
    • Empowering Trans & Non-Binary Youth
    • Cultivating and Sustaining an Affirmative Therapeutic Space for Transgender and Gender Diverse Young People
  • Gender Diversity and Self-Expression

Supporting Gifted Children:

  • Therapy for Gifted Kids (with Grace Malonai, PhD)
  • Giftedness Identification & Programming (with Dave Palmer, PhD)
  • Developmental Potential and Emotional Giftedness (with Michael M. Piechowski, PhD)
  • Tools for Helping Gifted Children with Emotional Regulation (with Vula Baliotis, PhD)

Anxiety Disorders:

  • Making Sense of Anxiety in Children and Youth (with Gordon Neufeld, PhD)
  • Teaching Kids to Crush Anxiety (with Natasha Daniels, LCSW)
  • Teaching Kids to Crush OCD (with Natasha Daniels, LCSW)

Grief & Loss:

  • Grief Training Intensive by Our House Grief Support Center

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Training:

  • 6 month DEIA training with Konda Mason and Kate Johnson

Professional Affiliations

  • California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Clinical Member since 2003 (CAMFT)
  • The Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (OBLPCT)
  • Verified by Psychology Today

Postgraduate Experience

  • Private practice:
    • Working with adults, adolescents, children, and couples on a variety of issues ranging from life transitions to mood and personality disorders
  • Hollygrove, Los Angeles:
    • Cognitive behavioral staff therapist with at-risk children, adolescents, and families on issues including family transitions, emotional and behavioral disturbances, and trauma; led an Adolescent Girls Group focused on self-esteem, family dynamics, body image, and self-care; and an Adolescent Boys Group focused on problem solving, impulse control, and interpersonal communication
  • The Maple Counseling Center, Los Angeles:
    • Psychodynamic work with children and adults on issues including depression, anxiety, acculturation, addiction, and eating disorders; conducted a one-year infant observation study; and facilitated Mindful Parenting Groups for parents and infants
  • Youth Services, Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center:
    • Assisted adolescents and families with issues related to alcohol and substance abuse, gang affiliation, self-esteem, stress reduction, anger management, and conflict resolution
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