Therapist Directory

“Practice harm reduction by being radically honest about your messiness.”
-Chani Nicholas

As human beings, we walk the planet with a complex matrix of shame, hurt, and resistance that can be peeled away like layers of an onion. With patient, careful, and nonjudgmental guidance, we can work to discover the deepest core of our beliefs, desires, and needs, expanding our stories and drawing meaning from our experiences.

With this improved awareness, we can build tools and resources for addressing challenges and, perhaps more importantly, create a more peaceful relationship with those challenges. As a result, we become better at our relationships with ourselves and others. Better communicators. Better at boundaries. Better at compassion. Better at receiving the love and care we need.

I help men and women who suffered neglect as children, allowing them to become more self-actualized people in the world. Do you say yes when you mean to say no? Do you overextend yourself? Do the needs of others come before yours? If you have grown up in a neglectful family, you may not know how to advocate for yourself. I can help.

As one can observe in nature, our innate impulse is to heal. Sometimes our access to this resiliency is along an ever-winding path. Life—relationships, behaviors, community, culture—impacts our ability to fulfill this impulse. In our sessions we will creatively collaborate to rediscover and widen your access to the path toward healing. We will hold your innate wisdom and resiliency alongside the parts of you that feel incongruent, sticky, stubborn, and shameful, honoring that each part deserves to be listened to without judgment. We will learn how to find balance in the fullness of you.

Ready to rediscover who you are?

I don't trust myself.

I'm tired of letting opportunities pass by because of self-doubt and tired of the regret I feel afterwards.

I know that changes in actions and beliefs can lead to growth and I realize that greater self-knowledge can help awaken a sense of purpose. But even though I've tried time and time again to develop a sense of empowerment, I'm not reaching my goals.

If any of these statements resonate with you, you're not alone. We live in a society that barrages us with negative external messages that silence our inner knowing— that powerful sense of intuition that rests just beyond our consciousness. When we are disconnected from our intuition, we can lose our sense of purpose.

Rediscovering your inner knowing can be hard work, but I'm here to help. Let’s work on making changes in a way that feels right and supports your process. You’ve been holding on to fear and negative messages. It’s time to let go. Let me help you on this journey.

I am a warm, supportive, nurturing, and direct therapist. Whether you are struggling with anxiety, depression, the stresses of everyday life, or the aftermath of trauma, we will focus on both alleviating your immediate sources of worry and distress and increasing your sense of safety, security, and well-being.

As a holistic and somatically oriented therapist, I believe it is important to integrate the mind, body, and spirit in the process of psychotherapy so that deeper awareness and true change is possible. As we meet, I will offer you an opportunity to work experientially as well as to share through talking. Whatever approach we employ, I hope you will leave each session feeling supported and accompanied in your journey.

You have survived beautifully. You have faced trauma and kept going. You usually take care of things yourself, but recently you have felt stuck or in need of a little more support. Perhaps family or friends have mentioned that you should consider getting help. It would be nice to find someone who not only has been trained to work with trauma and anxiety but who is also a supportive teammate. You would like a therapist who helps you identify and break free from challenging personal and interpersonal patterns so you can create more of what you want in your life.

I help you build a strong, flexible container to process forgiveness, grow self-awareness, and redirect stagnant energy to better suit your desired direction in life. By using gentle spirituality, affirming, nonjudgmental witnessing, and mindfulness, we can work on:

• Guided self-reflection
• Easing shame
• Modeling a safe relationship
• Unconditional regard
• Working with memories of trauma
• Intergenerational trauma
• Misattunement or not being understood in your earlier years
• Anxiety that has taken over sleep or other parts of your life
• Attachment trauma in couples
• Interfaith blending in couples and families
• Family loss, repair, and strengthening
• Postpartum depression
• Grief

Restarting your life? Feeling directionless or immobilized by life’s challenges? Are you feeling lost, overwhelmed, isolated? Do you feel stuck in the past as you try to recover and learn from previous relationships? Are you concerned about a lack of motivation in your life? Or maybe you think you are powerless, too old, too young, too different, or low energy?

Scary emotions are often part of the process of change. As a compassionate, supportive, experienced, and trustworthy therapist and guide, I can help. I specialize in life transitions, whether you are leaving a long-term relationship, facing career changes, or the loss of a partner.

I offer a supportive sounding board as you invite change into your life such as:
• Trusting yourself in intimate relationships
• Identifying your right work
• Healing from old wounds
• Learning to put yourself first

Real courage is moving forward when the outcome is uncertain. First steps are hard, but change is possible. Let me help you navigate your journey!

I work with individuals experiencing burnout, loneliness and blocked creativity in Marin and Berkeley. Maybe you’re experiencing apathy, hopelessness, overwhelm, negative self-talk or straight-up rebellion from your body. Being a human in these times is not for the faint of heart. Therapy can help. Working together, we can identify strengths you have, patterns you’d like to change and the resources to help sustain you.

I create a space for you to explore, breathe, relax, create, use metaphor, and get weird and playful to find answers and healing.

I can help by joining you in exploring your anxiety, your fear, your grief, and your relationships. Together we will be able to look at patterns which may be negatively impacting your ability to function and unravel them for a more fulfilling and satisfying life.

Therapy can help you:
• Decide how to have strong relationships with appropriate people
• Share what you hate and love about yourself and others
• Better communicate your needs and wants
• Discover ways to be kinder to yourself

I offer a warm, honest, and collaborative space within which we can explore issues that are troubling you. My aim is for you to feel more fully alive, to find the flexibility and resilience for stronger connections to others and a more vigorous pursuit of your goals and dreams.

Change is possible. Deep, long-lasting change comes from within and radiates out into the world.

I work well with clients who have anxiety, depression, relational trauma, big emotions, or dissociation. Clients who have a history of being bullied or struggle with intense inner criticism or imposter syndrome are also a good fit. In addition, I work well those on a spiritual path. My clients often feel what they need to share is too big or burdensome for the people in their lives to meet with sensitivity and presence. Or they feel stuck in behavior or thinking patterns that cause them pain. I also work with couples that would like help reconnecting on a relational, emotional, sexual, or physical level.

I am a somatic therapist who focuses on relational, attachment, and childhood trauma issues. I work with individuals and couples to address relationship ambivalence, codependence, anxiety, depression, major life transition, PTSD and trauma, shame and low self-esteem, and poor communication and conflict, among other issues. I help you build awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, allowing you to develop greater insight and uncover new choices.

Therapy is about relationships—relationships to our selves, to our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, to our dreams and our fears. It's about relationships with family, friends, and partners.

Relationship dynamics are complicated, which can be especially true in our families. I help individuals, families, and couples sort out what is happening, what they want for their relationships, and what could use some tweaking.

You can have a life with more connection, less stress, and better communication. If you think I may be a good match, please don't hesitate to call or email me for a free consultation.

I can help you feel more fully alive. I can help you align with the truth of who you are so you can experience deeper, more loving connections with yourself, the people you care about, and the world around you. The symptoms that bring you to therapy are actually signals for you to come back home to yourself.

I do somatic psychotherapy with people ready for radical change. I specialize in working with healers, artists, seekers, dancers, innovators, entrepreneurs, eccentrics, and anyone for whom it is too painful to live any life other than their own.

Being a human being is challenging. We are all seeking some sort of reliable refuge. Unfortunately, most of us have internalized the notion that refuge is to be found in external phenomena–other people, places, and things. While these external phenomena can be pleasing, reality dictates that they are inherently impermanent and unsatisfactory. In addition, most of us have internalized our likes and dislikes in ways that have given rise to a crystallized belief in the existence of one’s self, the defense and protection of which may dictate much of our decision-making through adulthood.

I offer unique reality attunement therapy to help my clients move into greater alignment with the natural order of things. Through an integration of cognitive behavioral, Gestalt, and existential approaches, reality attunement therapy will help you move toward an internalized, felt sense of the true, ephemeral nature of things. You will become comfortable with the uncomfortable. You will come to embrace the not-knowing. It is through this attunement to present-moment experience that the discovery of reliable refuge becomes possible. It is my professional calling to help cultivate this grounded sense in others.

Are you struggling to connect to your partner or important people in your life? Would you like to have deeper, more fulfilling relationships? Maybe you and your partner feel like you are trying to connect and just keep missing each other? Whether you come to therapy on your own or as part of a relationship, I can help you discover deeper connection and more fulfilling bonds.

Therapy provides a space dedicated solely to your wellbeing and growth. Some of the things I work with include anxiety, depression, loss and grief, the impacts of oppression, identity, race-based stress, challenging family dynamics, boundaries, coming out, interpersonal relationship challenges, self-harm, the voice of an inner critic, and the impacts of trauma, including early developmental trauma.

It sucks to live with thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that aren’t welcoming, hopeful or kind, doesn’t it? When that inner stream is clouded with shame, negativity, or apathy, therapy can be a filter to clear out the toxins and make way for the new–the braver, the steadier, the integrated, the you that has the room and gumption to flourish. Getting acquainted with your badass, authentic self deserves your full attention, intention, and compassion. Leveraging somatic practices and the latest in neuroscience and clinical intuition, I am here to help you contact your innate self-righting capacity and embodied wisdom—a personalized treasure trove. Sessions with me often include attention to the body and the breath, mindfulness and visualization work, art, movement, talk, humor, and embodied metaphor. Let's get to it.

I take a non-pathological approach to therapy, with the understanding that each individual has a unique background and the capacity to transform their future. I use the arts to give my clients a more tangible look into their psyche, helping them find a path towards healing. My practice includes mindfulness, CBT, internal family systems, and interpersonal modalities. I have experience working with substance abuse and addictions, depression, anxiety, complex PTSD, and family and relationship issues. I typically work with women, mothers, young adults, and teens, but I am not limited to these populations.

Everyone encounters feelings of dissatisfaction and confusion in their lives, questioning their choices, their direction, or even who they are at the core. I provide a calm, nonjudgmental space for you to share the things that trouble you, especially the things that are hard to share or the parts of you that you may not feel good about. I work to help you see how what you feel makes sense, making connections to past experiences, and coming to new self-understanding and acceptance.

I have a feeling you’ve survived a lot.

You’re pretty impressive. I bet your story is downright amazing.

On this epic quest to live an amazing life, you wound up here, so what’s going on? There’s something that’s bugging you, isn’t there? Something that you can’t quite let go of, that’s getting in your way when you’re trying to move forward and feel successful in your life.

I get it. The struggle is real.

I HAVE GOOD NEWS!

There is hope and help. Therapy can help you learn new skills, process old patterns and feelings, and move toward being the person you most want to be. Every hero needs a little help on their epic quest—and that’s ok.

You can lift the dark veils of sadness, grief, and despair and learn to be playful again. You can practice feeling confident, poised, and certain until you fully believe in yourself. You can release habits and behaviors that may have been effective in the past (hey – you survived!) but are no longer serving you. You can heal the intricate dance of intimacy and relationships and tap into rich reserves of creativity and inspiration.

Seeking support for life's inevitable challenges is a courageous and powerful choice. Consider me a partner on your path of increasing empowerment.

Therapy can offer a safe space for exploration and acceptance of a wider range of your life experience, which can lead to positive change. From my end, I will bring to our relationship a sense of non-judgment, warmth, and humor along with professional expertise.

I strive to be flexible, open, and inclusive, and thus draw from varied psychological and philosophical orientations. I am actively engaged in anti-oppression work, both personally and professionally. I honor diversity and welcome people from all walks of life.

Do you struggle to feel satisfied with yourself? Does it feel like no matter what you do, it is never enough? Maybe you project a self-confident image, but internally you experience feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. You long to feel at peace with yourself, but the self-judgment and pressure leave you feeling anxious, depressed, and isolated. You are tired of living like this and you are ready to figure out another way. I can help you overcome the obstacles that keep you feeling stuck, and will guide you to build healthier relationships with yourself and with others.

I specialize in working with individuals who struggle with self-criticism, shame, and low self-esteem. After working with me, my clients report feeling more grounded, whole, and confident in their own skin. They are better able to navigate personal relationships, life transitions, and work-related stress.

The way we relate to ourselves is key to our well-being. Unfortunately, in times of difficulty, we can be harshly self-critical. This ,can lead to depression and self-loathing, and makesmaking it even harder for us to achieve our goals. I help my clients cultivate a kinder inner voice and develop greater self-acceptance so they can walk through life with more confidence and resilience.

Relationships are unique and come in countless shapes and sizes over time. Right now, relationships are happening and changing in your life every day. I provide opportunities to explore your relationship to relationships; to gain customized tools for current and future relationships; and to catalyze what is working in your relationships and heal and transform what is painful and challenging.

Yes, all relationships shift and change. Yet love can regenerate again and again in the most mysterious moments and forms when we stay open and curious.

The co-creative journey of intimate relationships is a fundamental part of our human well-being.

You are lovable.

I specialize in grief counseling and helping older individuals and couples navigate the challenges of aging.

We live in a world that has no time for grief and no patience for the physical and emotional challenges of aging. Because our culture has so little tolerance for these experiences, people are forced to push down their feelings and pretend that they’re not in any pain. As a result, it's easy to become lost in your grief and frustrated in your efforts to find meaning and joy as you age.

I also work with the families of substance abusers, helping them get their lives back on track and find a level of happiness whether their loved one is using or not.

To be seen and understood for who you are by someone with good intentions and real knowledge can help you know that you are real and your experience of life is also real. Being understood in this way is at the heart of being human. It is also at the foundation of building a resilient sense of self that allows you to overcome your wounds and achieve your full potential. We need to be fully human before we can evolve and transcend as either psychological or spiritual beings.

Are you in transition? Struggling with anxiety, depression, self-criticism, or low self-esteem and tired of simply surviving? Wanting to feel more empowered in your life, relationships, and at work? Are you seeking a warm, caring therapist who will listen and help support you? Who is devoted to your wellbeing and can offer both the practical help and emotional support to help you to thrive? If so, I'd like to help.

I work with adolescents, women, men, and couples desiring new opportunities for themselves and their lives. Often at a crossroads, struggling with the aftermath of their early family lives, coping with overwhelm or loss, or trying to find ways to live more at peace with themselves and their loved ones, my clients come from all walks of life.

As my client, I will treat you with respect, thoughtfulness, and compassion. Whether you want to learn more about yourself and your feelings, develop new skills, cope with life's challenges, or pursue a journey of self-discovery, we will work together to create an experience tailored to your specific needs and goals.

If you are struggling or simply want an ally in creating a better life, I invite you to call me.

Life can be hard at times and not having the right tools can be challenging. Whether you are struggling with past trauma, relationship issues, depression, anxiety, addiction, or events in your life that are emotionally draining, we can work together to figure out the best way to live your fullest life. I have a direct, honest, and compassionate style of communicating that allows us to focus on your goals in a collaborative and constructive way, but most importantly in a way that makes sense to you. Let therapy guide you in the direction you want to go.

Whether there are specific goals you want to accomplish and address or whether your life story is taking a narrative you had not anticipated, I sit with you in looking at the different aspects of your life you’d like to focus on.

I help you look at your past, your earlier relationships, and how these experiences still impact your present life. We will not stay stuck in the past and therapy does not end with our 50-minute sessions. I encourage you to reflect upon our sessions as new interactions arise and take note of your internal experiences in how you respond. You may find yourself remembering more of your dreams at night as you do this work and I can help you in looking deeper in understanding and integrating your dream material. Using mindfulness, self-compassion, and your emotional compass, I will help you look at your patterns and behavior. Over time, you will become more aware of your own nature and parts. As life circumstances arise, you will find moments where you can pause and realize you have a choice point to respond in new ways that align with your true self.

Having a hard time? Feeling stuck? Let's talk. Intuitive and practical counseling with a skilled and compassionate therapist.

Choosing the right counselor is important. My approach is warm, open, and collaborative. I work with you to explore reactions, emotional patterns, and thought processes. I encourage honest exchange at your own pace while providing you with tangible techniques to take into your life.

I specialize in:
• Work-related problems and conflicts for managers or employees
• Parenting and step-parenting
• Relationship issues (dating, problems in marriage or significant relationship, and break-ups/ divorces)
• Managing stress
• Adjustment to life changes (new career, relocation, kids leaving the house, retirement, caregiving, and health problems)
• Trauma, anxiety, ADHD, and depression
• Anger, reactivity, feeling unfulfilled, and other unpleasant emotions

Psychotherapy can help you get what you want out of life. Feel free to call me for a free 20-minute phone consultation to see if it feels right.

I help people who are seeking deeper meaning, connection, and purpose in their lives. As a queer- and spiritual-identified woman, I often work at the intersection of spiritual, sexual, and gender identity, supporting the complexity of that experience. People like me often find communities that will honor one part of their identity while ignoring the others. In my practice, LGBTQIA-identified individuals and couples in the Bay Area can access a safe therapeutic environment that affirms each layer of their identity, facilitates meaningful connections, and awakens purpose. My unique relational-Gestalt psychotherapy approach encourages clients to tap into their true potential and live a life with deeper meaning and fuller joy.

I also specialize in autism and educational therapy. Anxiety can have a large impact on quality of life. If you have autism, strict behavioral methods will not reduce chronic anxiety because they do not address the underlying social and emotional experience. My well-developed approach uses the latest findings in psychology, education, and neuroscience to tremendously reduce autism-related-anxiety.

You not sure what to do, but you know you need support.

Your kid is having meltdowns over seemingly nothing. You’re in the middle of a major life transition and feel lost. Your own childhood or trauma history is getting in the way of parenting and relationships. You want your family to feel whole and connected and your child to be content, confident, and calm. But it all feels impossible and overwhelming.

You can reach a place of acceptance and peace without ignoring your needs. I help children, teens, and parents reconnect and rediscover their resilience, finding their inner calm.

You may be looking for help healing from a troubled past, facing fears and uncertainty about the future, or coping with the everyday challenges of your present life, work, and relationships. Help can take many forms. Support from family and friends, your faith, nature, pets, actions you take to advocate for your health and wellbeing, and encounters with healing places or people can change your life and shift your perspective. Help can also come through the authentic relationship you develop with a therapist who is a reasonably right fit for you.

My somatic psychotherapy practice is collaborative and trauma-informed. I work with adults and couples who want more satisfying, authentic relationships with themselves and others. I provide support dealing with interpersonal and emotional challenges, managing stress and anxiety responses, and facing the intensity of change, loss, and life's uncertainty.

I engage with you as a compassionate, therapeutic companion, work with you to lift burdens of past traumas, and transform internal patterns that interfere with being present in your life and relationships. I integrate training in trauma and touch into my psychotherapy practice and want to help you live in more accordance with what really matters to you.

Let’s admit we all have broken places. It is part of the human condition. We all have situations we just can’t figure out on our own. In my 20 years as a social worker, most of my clients start therapy saying some version of “I just don’t know what to do.” Together we cultivate the emotional safety necessary to examine where you are and where you need to go, as well as the courage to get there step by step.

Do you feel paralyzed when facing a major life transition—deciding a career path, stepping into adulthood, becoming a couple or separating, becoming a parent or not? Perhaps your relationship is frozen and you and your partner can't talk without fighting or can't agree on a shared vision for your lives. By working together we can shed a kind light on the dark places and approach them with safety and curiosity. You determine the pace as we make sense of things and find the places where movement and change can happen.

Finding a therapist that meets your needs is challenging. If you're familiar with therapy, you're probably tired of repeating your story . . . and if you're new to therapy, you're probably dreading that initial appointment. Regardless of your past experience, my priority is to help you feel safe.

Being seen, heard and validated in a nonjudgmental space can be powerful. There is power to be gained from accepting your authentic self. As a therapist, I collaborate with you to harness this power. I am passionate about creativity, transparency, and personal growth. I believe every individual is unique and deserves a care plan that embraces their identity.

Relationships can be the most rewarding, and the most frustrating, things in our lives.

We want them. Well, we want the good parts. And when we are not getting the good, we think
hey, maybe I am just better off on my own. But where does that leave us? Usually craving and
wanting a relationship again.

Love, communication, and intimacy are probably not the things you learned in school. Most
likely you are relating to others based on what was modeled to you growing up or what you
saw or read on TV, the internet, or in magazines.

Therefore, let's pause, take a step back, and start to explore what lies beneath the surface.

LOVE is the most organic thing—but it's also complicated.

Learning to be your own person in a relationship while developing deep intimacy is something
within your reach.

Whether you are coming to me as an individual or as members of a couple, I welcome the
opportunity to begin a dialog with you.

Are you ready to take your life to the next level? Are you ready to be unstuck and start feeling fulfilled in your life and relationships? My work is to support my clients in reaching their potential. I am passionate about helping individuals and couples thrive. There are times in life when an unknown obstacle is holding us back from achieving our most authentic self. These challenges can be the result of childhood trauma, shame, stress, or identity confusion. Therapy is a place that can help you free yourself from negative patterns that are keeping you from achieving your goals.

Holistic psychotherapy is an integrative practice rooted in alternative approaches to traditional therapy. This modality of therapy brings awareness to the whole self, body, mind, and spirit, allowing you to better understand, heal, and build acceptance of the self.

Holistic psychotherapy offers support through a gentle transformative process for those who wish to make positive changes in their lives. Through the use of various alternative holistic therapeutic methods and collaborative approaches, clients are able to develop life-changing habits to help them cope with all of life’s various obstacles. I believe everyone has the capacity for success and I am dedicated to offering you a guiding hand on your life journey.

"Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one's being, but by integrating of the contraries."–Carl Jung

I specialize in psychospiritual integration, personal growth, and ushering along the path of awakening. My strength is in clearly seeing blocks and identifying and teaching shamanic and mindfulness-based techniques that can help. I deeply honor each soul's individual path. Using self-empowering spiritual practices such as vipassana meditation, tensegrity, qigong, and soul retrieval, I will help you to identify and create habits and behaviors that will lead you in the direction that matters to you most long after the therapy is finished.

People naturally strive to make sense of their experiences. Each of us has an innate ability to heal from old wounds and to integrate them into a greater whole. Just as seemingly imperfect threads are woven together, the difficulties we work through and overcome become part of our extraordinary journey. My desire is to help you accept and embrace the richness of your fabric.

Often the beliefs we carry about ourselves don't originate with us or it can be hard to locate the source of our emotions. Maybe you are in a place where the pain feels overwhelming; maybe certain thoughts and memories seem like they are just too much to handle; or perhaps you are well aware of patterns you would like to change but don't know where to start. The belief in your own capacity to heal and move beyond these struggles may feel flimsy at best, but I am here to remind you of your own strength. After all, you made it this far and you are not giving up now. Part of my job is to help you hold what feels like "too much" and to figure out a path forward together.

Is there something you've always hesitated to say out loud, because if you did nothing would stay the same?

Or…

Like in that serenity prayer, are you looking for the difference between what you can change and what you have to accept?

Wisdom's hard to come by in this angry world and serenity can be fleeting. This is your one shot, so you might as well speak your truth. Let’s figure out what you need and what you already have, so you can accept yourself even when it’s hard and participate fully in your own life. What you believe is your Kryptonite may also be the root of your superpower. I'd even bet on it.

Therapy with me can be talky, weepy, a laugh riot, companionable silence. It's my job to understand your world as you see it. We’ll make use of my professional training, life experience, imagination, and intellect to find new perspectives on your relationships, your past, and your present. We’ll experiment with ways for you to manage difficult emotions, feel more compassion toward yourself and others, and live with integrity and purpose.

I'm here to help you understand and accept yourself, make sense of difficult experiences, and find more of what makes you truly happy. This might mean working through unprocessed trauma that is holding you back or examining your patterns in relationships. Whatever path our work takes, I believe self-knowing and self-compassion are at its core. Who are you, what is hurting inside you, and what do you need to feel whole? Let’s get curious and find out together.

In order to facilitate your healing, we will have real conversations about you and your life—the kind of conversations that sing in your heart and mind and take you to places you never expected.

My approach includes giving you space, security, and encouragement to explore your past and the deeper parts of the mind that may be driving your day-to-day decisions. We will look at what’s bothering you and find a way forward. Through deep listening, I help make sense of inner disturbances that are creating outer conflicts in your life. As you overcome anxieties and unhealthy expectations, you will discover your own alive and authentic self as well as identify and organize turbulent feelings, clarifying your expectations. We will work toward resolving old wounds and developing new ways of thinking as you disentangle from your struggles. Your interest in new skills and knowledge will be the starting point for further growth as you find a way to live life as yourself, free, open, and self-accepting.

Life can be very confusing sometimes! My understanding is that each of us is different and there are no easy answers for most of life's questions. I am happy to be engaged in the mystery of life with you. Using my humanistic and transpersonal approach, my goal is to help you create meaning out of life and develop coping skills. I acknowledge all spiritual and religious traditions, including atheism. At the end of the day, I don't know the "right" answer. All I know is that being kind and brave is important. I want to honor the things that are important to you too.

I am a somatically trained, trauma-informed, mindfulness- and strength-based associate therapist currently seeing individual adults and couples bringing the full spectrum of the human condition.

Individuals and areas of interest:

• Highly sensitive individuals
• Inherited family trauma and intergenerational trauma
• Adult survivors of child abuse and attachment trauma
• Chronic anxiety and depression
• Grief and the grieving process
• Smartphone and other 21st-century addictions
• Bipolar disorder and the artistic temperament
• Spiritual practice and spiritual community
• Meditation and mindfulness practice
• Discovering the sacred masculine and unlearning toxic masculinity
• Untraining white liberal racism and white fragility

Couples
My work with couples is grounded in research and evidence-based practices. My intention is to create a space in which each partner feels sufficiently safe to express their deepest relational longing, to have that longing be truly seen, heard, and felt by your partner, and to work experientially whenever possible. My work is emotionally focused and attachment-based. I have a passion for teaching mindful communication, providing tools for sustaining intimacy in long-term relationships, and cultivating resilience after surviving infidelity. In my experience, sometimes just a few sessions of couples therapy can have long-lasting positive effects. It is also my experience that it can even be fun!

Finding the right mental health therapist is not always easy or convenient, but I hope your experience here is different. If you are new to therapy, it might feel uncomfortable talking to a stranger at first. If you have been in therapy for years, you might dread having to "start over" with someone new. Wherever you are in your journey, I will do my best to work with you in a way that is collaborative, integrative, and synergistic.

I specialize in PTSD, complex trauma, and recent traumatic events. After working with me, my clients report feeling calmer, more patient and self-aware, and able to express their own strengths, needs, and limits. They are able to notice how and when they might use internal and external resources.

In my office, you will find a safe and comfortable space where curiosity and compassion guide us towards your self-discovery and healing. Depending on your specific needs, we will shape our time together using creativity and what you already know about yourself. I respect your self-knowing and prioritize your pace and agency to guide our therapeutic dynamic and movement towards positive change.

Together we can increase your tolerance of anxiety, anger, and other overwhelming emotions and create more choices for you to feel empowered rather than stuck or reactionary. We can monitor and learn from your stress responses (fight, flight, freeze, etc.) in order to improve your communication with others, self-care, and general functioning. I can also guide you towards more self-compassion and wisdom, rooted in the body, where you can revisit and recharge when you need it.

Through our work, you’ll heal and move toward inner strength and wholeness by reclaiming disowned parts of yourself, parts you have othered or exiled, knowingly or not. We will make room for your multi-dimensionality and the intricate complexities within you. I believe in the work we can do to make peace possible for you.

Aren’t emotions the worst? I mean, you’re chugging along in your established routine that includes all of the things you’re supposed to do to be healthy, happy, and successful and then boom! Overwhelming anger or despair pops up out of nowhere and knocks you on your ass and, despite your efforts, there seems to be nothing you can do to stop it.

I get it. You are extremely intelligent, highly disciplined; you don’t need any more self-care tips. What you do need is someone there when you feel out of control, who won’t be intimidated by how deeply you feel and who, in fact, relishes the opportunity to walk with you on this terrifying and exhilarating journey of being human. I’m confident that we can transform your emotions from the disruptive force they are now into a source of inspiration and vitality.

You’re not broken, though at times in life we can feel that way. Reaching out for support can be difficult, but it is the first step to feeling like life is working again. I help individuals and couples facilitate their process of living a fuller, deeper, more authentic, and balanced life through mindfulness-based and somatic psychotherapy. It’s an honor to sit with my clients and be a part of their journey.

Effective therapy is both challenging and nourishing. It helps you understand your thoughts, motivations, and feelings so that you can move through what’s in the way of your freedom and contentment in relationships, helping you find meaning and develop self-confidence.

I am a holistic therapist who works with individuals and couples to address transparency and truth, developing conscious relationships, effective communication, trauma, life purpose, career and relationship transitions, or the general feeling of stuckness or that life isn’t what it could be.

I excel with people that are interested in self-knowledge, transforming their relationships with an open and honest approach, and developing an ability to understand their romantic partner's perspectives and motivations.

I specialize in working with people who struggle with complex trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Complex trauma is often the result of growing up with a caregiver who was abusive, neglectful, and/or suffered from mental illness or addiction. Complex trauma can also be a result of growing up in an environment where there was poverty, frequent incarceration, violence, and oppression. Symptoms of complex trauma include anxiety, depression, difficulty with relationships, chronic pessimism, fear of success, and a sense of feeling broken or that something is wrong with you.

I am trained in various techniques that specifically work with trauma and I work with an anti-oppression perspective. I have a diverse caseload and include you and your family’s particular socio-political-historical context when considering the impact of intergenerational trauma. You do not have to identify with, or have suffered from, complex trauma to contact me. I also work with attachment and relationship issues, perfectionism, giftedness, gender and masculinity, and issues around immigration, acculturation, and belonging.

“The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire.”–Audre Lorde

As we grow up, we learn to survive in complex familial, social, and political systems. These inherently adaptive survival strategies lay the foundation for how we relate to the world around us, one another, and ourselves. Unfortunately, these strategies can leave us feeling cut off from longed-for parts of our experience. As adults we may begin to feel limited by old patterns that no longer serve us. This is often when we seek out therapy. I am interested in providing a space for you to remember your known and lesser-known parts. By drawing on your intrinsic source of vitality, rooted in the erotic, we will forge new pathways of connection as you learn to accept, love, and embody yourself.

Do you feel stuck? Are you struggling or worried about someone you love? Do you want to improve the quality of your relationships? Reaching out for help and support is a courageous first step toward positive change.

I am a compassionate, collaborative therapist who offers high quality, personalized counseling services. I partner with individuals and couples to understand their unique needs and provide support and tools that empower them. Some of the issues I can help with are depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, low self-esteem, grief and loss, and relationship problems.

It is my privilege to assist you through life's challenges and struggles. I am committed to providing a nonjudgmental safe place for you to explore and tap into your personal strengths. Together we will discover how you can heal and move forward.

Humans are pack animals. We depend on our relationships to survive. So, when we are deprived of the love and care of supportive relationships, we find ways to meet these needs in their absence. These strategies help us minimize our pain allowing us to survive childhood and navigate adulthood.

Now you are finding that these survival strategies are becoming problems of their own. Do you struggle with letting your guard down, even for the people you love? Is it difficult to put your needs over the needs of others? Have you developed habits of avoiding "feeling" and find that you are disconnected from the world around you?

Therapy offers a unique relationship that invites you to explore your patterns and practice new ways of relating to others. I offer warmth, curiosity, and openness as together we seek out your ideal YOU and explore how to let this person shine through in all your relationships.

Feeling like The Giving Tree? Worn down to the stump? Kids struggling at home or at school? Parenting can be so hard. So can growing up.

I specialize in providing support for childhood and parenting challenges. I have a knack for helping families sift through life’s complex knots, create space for new insights, maximize what’s working, and let go of what isn’t. Learning to respond intentionally rather than react can help both parents and children communicate and thrive at home and in the classroom.

Sometimes we are quick to pathologize ourselves and our children. I believe it’s important to help families understand the difference between tendencies, issues, and true disorders, all of which can be addressed within a supportive and caring therapeutic relationship. I provide a strengths-based holistic approach to therapy.

My role as a psychotherapist is to help clients acknowledge and harness their innate strengths, enabling them to attain and sustain the well-being they are searching for. What holds us back? What keeps us returning to habitual patterns that limit us? How can we heal from past experiences or learn to cope with current life challenges? Together we will examine your life from many vantage points, with compassion and curiosity. By expanding how you view yourself, relate to others, and respond to difficult circumstances, new possibilities will emerge.



My areas of expertise include:
• Cultivating self-compassion to combat shame, self-criticism, and threats to self worth
• Advocating for the unique issues LGBTQ individuals face
• Understanding and coping with depression and anxiety
• Examining the causes and harmful cycles of addiction and codependency
• Exploring intimacy concerns for individuals and couples
• Supporting clients coping with grief and loss
• Building resilience while navigating life transitions
• Embracing cross-cultural differences and attachment patterns in couples
• Working with childhood trauma

My first priority is to help create a safe-enough space for us to explore with honesty, clarity, and even humor your experiences, your relationships, and what feels true to you. This includes what happens in the therapy room, which can often mirror what happens in your other relationships.