Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
510/527-2100
From my training at the Center for Creative Growth and from working with clients for almost two decades, I have witnessed the fast recovery and healing that emerges from working with one’s inner child. I have found that helping clients heal from Complex Post- Traumatic Stress Disorders or CPTSD, has been life changing for my clients and for myself.
From my own work in a 12-Step program, I understand the healing that comes from working a program. I find that together, therapy and working a 12-step program can expedite one’s healing and recovery, especially if the therapist has personal experience with a 12-Step program. This is the wisdom that I also offer to my clients.
From my own journey as a mother, a powerful calling has emerged: to work with parents as they walk the remarkable and challenging passage of parenthood. I understand the struggles of being a parent and the lack of time to nurture oneself, the triggered feelings that come up, and the stresses of family life. I have a deep knowing of how to support each parent through different phases of parenthood, and I also know how to support couples to find a new balance and deepen their love as they walk the path of parenthood, whether it is a new role or one that is changing.
I help couples practice the invaluable skills of authentic, open communication and respectful expression of feelings to overcome impasses, deepen commitment, and re-establish real intimacy. For those in couples therapy with me, it is my great privilege to help you and your partner create such a relationship — or decide to move on with clarity and respect.
I have also found in my journey a call to support women who feel that they did not have a mother, whether emotionally or physically or both. This has been a growing passion of mine, and I work with women in individual therapy and group therapy to support and bring healing to those who have this kind of wound.
Additionally, as a psychotherapist at our Center since 2009, I work with a broad range of other issues and a diversity of clients. Bringing my skill and sensitivity, I address issues such as:
- CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
- past and present traumas
- attachment wounds
- anxiety, depression, stress
- self-esteem and stopping the inner critic
- codependency
- grief, loss, and loneliness
- spiritual growth and searching
- integrating therapy and your 12-Step program
- childhood wounds connected to alcoholic, dysfunctional, or abusive families
- transitions in all areas of life
- alcohol and drugs — concerns about your own use or that of a loved one
- addictive/compulsive behaviors, including sex, love, relationship, debting
- relationship issues with partners, family members, friends, and co-workers
- child and teen difficulties
- emotional, physical, and sexual abuse
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at the Center for Creative Growth, as well as a Supervisor in our Therapist Training Program. Blending humanistic, transpersonal, and Jungian psychology, my therapeutic work also incorporates inner child work, CPTSD, family systems therapy, Gestalt techniques, dream work, expressive arts, mindfulness practices, focusing, somatic therapy, attachment therapy, and addictions work, including the 12-Step recovery model. In addition to using these approaches when working with individuals, couples, families, and teens, all of my work comes from the compassionate, authentic, safe, and deeply empathic space you and I will co-create together.
A little about me. I am a mother who loves to explore nature. You can find me out on the hiking trails with my family, as well as with our sweet pup. I love to tend to my garden, paint, and craft. I love exploring new places, whether a new restaurant or a hike or a country.
It will be my pleasure to meet with you to explore whether I am the right therapist to assist you in your healing journey.
A Demonstrated Record of Professional Excellence
B.A., Psychology, San Francisco State University
M.A., Depth (Jungian) Psychology, Sonoma State University
M.A., Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco
Clinical Member — California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists