A little bit about me
My background
I have walked my own path towards healing
I had innate curiosity and creativity when I was growing up, and I was surrounded by discussions and books on psychology. I liked to draw and write as a way to explore my inner world.
I was always interested in dreams and the imagination, but these ideas also seemed to carry mysteries that appeared to be bigger than myself. I felt that there was a void, that something was missing, and I searched for meaning and to understand where I fit in the world.
These interests eventually drove me to study Jungian psychology, philosophy, various religious traditions, literature, art and metaphysics later in life.
For the past thirty years, I have been a student of my own inner work, engaging with personal depth psychotherapy, trauma recovery, dream work, active imagination, somatic work, trainings, workshops and seminars.
Before I became a therapist
In my early years, I worked in entertainment in Los Angeles. Even though I was a creative person, I found the business nature of the work to be dispiriting. I wanted to do something with my life in which I felt more connected to my true purpose and calling.
What I didn’t understand, initially, was that my yearning to find meaning and fill a void was influenced by my own history with childhood trauma and attachment wounds.
Even though I had strived for many years to understand myself and reduce this void, it wasn’t until I began working with a trauma-informed therapist that I was able to find myself and to restore the meaning and the direction that I had always sought.
Through therapy, as I recovered from the attachment trauma that had been inhibiting me, I began to explore in-depth who I was and what I wanted to be.
It became clear to me that I had to return to the connection with the ideas, dreams and mysteries that had inspired me as a child. I wanted to help others explore their inner most selves and to heal from their wounds, so I decided to go back to school to become a therapist.
Now I strive to help others walk their own paths
Because I had experienced the transformative benefits of therapy for attachment wounds, it compelled me to support help others on their own paths as they find a way out of their own challenging, adverse past experiences.
As part of the process of learning about myself, I plunged into the field of psychology, trauma recovery and further studies, and became invested in understanding as much as possible about what makes people heal.
For the past 15 years I have devoted myself specifically to the understanding of how trauma and wounding in our early attachment relationships effects us as adults and how healing takes place.
Training
On my path to becoming a therapist I worked at a low-fee community mental health clinic in San Francisco, providing support to adults and couples of diverse backgrounds with a wide range of mental health issues, including trauma, anxiety, depression, attachment wounds and personality disorders.
For three years, prior to obtaining my license, I worked at Bay Area Psychotherapy Training Institute while establishing my practice in Lafayette. During this time I worked with adults, couples, families and children with a myriad of issues related to trauma, depression, anxiety, vocation and relationships.
For a year and a half I worked at a middle school counseling students with a variety of concerns.
Prior to my clinical training, I spent over seven years providing emotional support and intake services to parents of children with special needs.
Education and Training
~ Couples Training in the Developmental Model, Advanced Level
~ Brainspotting, Phase 1
~ Brainspotting, Phase 2
~ EFTI (Emotionally Focused Therapy for Individuals),
Level 1
Additional trainings in trauma therapy, anxiety treatment, attachment-focused work, personality disorders, dissociation, and trauma resolution.
My personal interests include having attended multiple seminars at the CG Jung Institute in San Francisco and Los Angeles throughout my life.
~ Jungian Oriented Psychotherapy
A nine-month study course on Jungian Psychotherapy with the San Francisco Jung Insitute. Courses included:
Analytical Psychology: Historical Context
Approaching the Unconscious: An Analytic Attitude
Complex of Identity: Ego, Ego Development and the Phases of Life
Archetypes, Myths, and the Personal Psyche
The Self, Ego-Self Alignment and Estrangement
Professional Affiliations
Clinical Supervisor for prelicensed therapists at Almaden Valley Counseling Service in San Jose, CA and Bay Area Psychotherapy Institute, Lafayette CA
Board member, Analytical Psychology Club of San Francisco, (2015 to 2022)
Program Director, Bay Area Psychotherapy Institute Lafayette CA 2020-2022
Board member, Bay Area Psychotherapy Institute, Lafayette, CA 2017-2022
While at BAPTI, co-created scholarship fund to increase access to affordable therapy for the community
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)
East Bay CAMFT
Personal Interests
During my free time I enjoy art, illustration, life drawing, photography and writing. I love reading and watching movies and being outside hiking or biking. I experience a lot of joy spending time with my young adult son, who always keeps smiling, laughing and grounded all at the same time.
Licensing + Degree
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #120106
Masters in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology
Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA
Bachelors in Fine Arts, Photography
California State University, Long Beach, CA