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
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
As a Marriage & Family Therapist in California (MFC 44203) with two decades of experience, I support individuals, couples, and families in identifying and transforming the underlying emotional, behavioral, and cognitive patterns that shape their relationships. My work is rooted in embodied awareness and draws from somatic psychology, attachment theory, psychodynamic insight, and family systems thinking.
In my private practice, I specialize in working with couples and families navigating complex demands. I also work a lot with high accountability, high demand professionals like physicians, nurses, scientists, engineers, lawyers, academics, executives and team leaders. I work with individuals seeking greater alignment and autonomy in their lives, or who might be struggling with depression, anxiety or other overwhelming feelings.
My specializations include:
Unique Background And Highly Relational Therapeutic Style
1
I’ve worked in management consulting, integrated healthcare delivery and community clinics
2
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, political orientations, ethnicities and formations
My therapeutic approach is grounded in a deeply humanistic commitment to personal freedom, anti-racism, anti-scapegoating, and the celebration of diversity. I’ve had the honor of listening to the stories and struggles of hundreds of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized individuals, learning from their wisdom and lived experiences. Over time, I have pursued both personal and professional growth to deepen my empathy, expand my understanding, and honor these communities more fully.
At the same time, I bring informed experience for those shaped by conservative values, drawing from my own childhood roots in central Texas and a Christian education. This background helps me connect across a broad spectrum of perspectives with respect and authenticity.
As a psychotherapist, I also affirm the validity of neurodivergent experience, informed by my own journey and extensive work with neurodivergent clients. I also recognize that meaningful change may involve examining the roles, patterns, and identities that form around neurodivergent traits—always with sensitivity, curiosity, and choice.
Over Two Decades of Experience Across Healthcare, Crisis Response, and Deep Psychotherapeutic Work with Systems
I bring 20 years of psychotherapy experience across a range of settings, including hospitals and healthcare systems, employee assistance programs (EAP), community mental health clinics, and residential treatment facilities. My work is rooted in helping individuals, couples, families, and groups recognize the embodied patterns of emotion, behavior, and thought that shape their lives—often outside of conscious awareness. By slowing these patterns down, people can find greater self-awareness, relational clarity, and personal agency.
For over 15 years, I worked as an internal workforce consultant for Kaiser Permanente’s Employee and Physician Assistance Program, where I provided brief counseling to thousands of individuals (and their families)—including hundreds of physicians, nurses, and healthcare leaders. I also held emotional leadership roles in crisis response, deploying to over 300 critical incident stress with debriefings in the wake of events such as wildfires, mass shootings, workplace tragedies, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in my career, I lead a therapeutic team at a group home in Marin County, California for children recovering from severe abuse and trauma. I provided family therapy with foster or adoption possibilities, and play-based interventions to support the children’s emotional integration. I also worked for some time in a short-term residential facility for adults living with serious psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia, gaining experience in the dilemmas of chronic and acute mental health challenges.
My clinical approach is enriched by a lifelong practice of movement, somatics, and body-based awareness. I draw from a range of modalities, most notably Gestalt Therapy, Formative Psychology®, family systems theory, psychodynamic and attachment-based frameworks, and experiential play therapy. My academic training includes a liberal arts Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Master’s degree in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where I specialized in Body-Mind Psychotherapy, group dynamics, family and couples work, and Eastern spiritual perspectives.