Relational & Embodied Psychotherapy
for Individuals, Couples, Families and Groups in California
Address an issue
Make a change
Feel resourced
Reduce conflict
Increase warmth
Feel forgiven
Express pain
Ask for help
Make a request
Assert a clarity
Experience relaxation
Form a boundary
Improve communication
Increase trust
Build intimacy
Find ease
Resolve a problem
Improve mental health
California Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
I'm a California Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (MFC 44203) with an approach that draws from embodied awareness, somatic psychology, attachment theory, psychodynamic theory, and family systems theory. I believe our behavior is shaped by genetics, relationships, and the environment. We inherit, learn, and create adaptive patterns for survival and growth within our surroundings. Psychotherapy offers a unique opportunity to explore these dynamics in depth, unveiling our impulses, societal constraints, and the creation of meaningful experiences.
My specializations include:
Working with Individuals, Couples, Families, Groups
Over two decades, working with thousands of individuals, and hundreds of couples and families, I orient my support to each client’s desires and goals. As a therapeutic agent in the “emotional system” I use “tools” like listening well to your expressions (verbal and non-verbal), reflecting and synthesizing what you’ve expressed, noticing how we are in dialogue together, exploring of patterns of embodiment, communication, expression, restraint. I regularly check-in with clients to assess their satisfaction with the process, and the effective impact of the results (they are not always the same).
Unique Background And Highly Relational Therapeutic Style
1
I’ve worked in management consulting, integrated healthcare delivery and community clinics
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I talk and interact like a real person, to best perform my therapeutic role
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“Everything everyone does makes sense to them” is a foundational principle in my work
I offer my services to individuals, couples and families of all cultures, orientations, ethnicities and formations
As a clinician over many years, I’ve had the privilege to speak with hundreds of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized peoples about their pain and relationships. I have taken many personal and professional steps to deepen my compassion and understanding of their context, wisdom and stories. I am firmly AGAINST any mis-attuned therapeutic suggestion that packages “whiteness” or “patriarchy” or any dominant culture context. I believe in dialogue, and I believe in diversity. I’ve grown up in very conservative areas also, so I appreciate differences. I believe the most dynamic learning “across differences” happens in diverse, safe community.
20 years in the field: EAP, hospitals & healthcare, community clinics and residential treatment
As a Kaiser Permanente Employee & Physician Assistance Program Consultant for over 15 years, I provided short-term individual, couples, and family therapeutic support to thousands, including hundreds of doctors and nurses, coaching and consultation to leaders, and numerous events and workshops on topics like burnout, disaster recovery, and empathic strain. I deployed to 300+ critical incidents and disasters, including community trauma from wildfires, floods, and pandemics in my last five years.
Before my role at Kaiser EAP, I led a therapeutic team in a group home in Marin County for abused and traumatized children, offering non-directive play therapy and family therapy. I also served as an emotional consultant to a staff caring for the children. Additionally, I worked in a residential treatment facility for adults with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
I hold a Bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Master's degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, in Body-Mind Psychotherapy, Group Dynamics, Psychodynamic Theory, and Eastern Spirituality. I have a background in leadership, consulting, and business development at multinational firms.