My story
Where I started
I returned to school to study psychology after completing a literacy based teaching fellowship and working in the classroom with young children.
I felt more drawn to wanting to prevent what was holding children back emotionally from learning, than teaching them to read. One 4 year old girl sticks out vividly in my memory. She would bang her face on the rug during nap time, and then hop up, and work hard to learn again, when we turned on the lights. She was able to keep up with the other children academically, even though she had a scab on her forehead and social worker visits that took her out of class. I couldn’t help but wonder how much further ahead she would have been, if whatever was bothering her at naptime had been caught sooner.
Later in my career
I worked in multiple safe houses. In 2005, I was on the counseling team for the first ever safe house for child sex trafficking survivors in the United States, as a residential counselor. Later, I moved to Washington DC and tried to create a nationalized database for child abuse, and child trafficking reports, after I worked closely with a child who was murdered by his mother. When my efforts towards creating the database didn't work out, I started a dog walking business through the hills of San Francisco.
While working with dogs, I treated my own childhood trauma and memories from working in dangerous environments. I used psychotherapy, exercise, support groups, mindfulness, sound healing, nutrition, books, and anything I could find to heal.
I found the most personal relief through using CBT, EMDR, and Positive Psychology.
In my 30s
I ran an early literacy consulting business and volunteered to coordinate a mentorship program on campus at a public high school in San Francisco. I returned to graduate school then to become a therapist, and started working 1 to 1 with resilient trauma survivors, and successful professionals with anxiety, as a Marriage and Family Therapist. I have practiced as a therapist in San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles in person, and remotely throughout the state of California.
I bring lived experience, university training, genuine curiosity, and care into sessions with clients. I would love to work together with you, as you learn to use time tested resources and tools of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR and Positive Psychology.
I genuinely love my job and helping people make peace with their pasts, and to come up with strategies to reach for their goals.
Becoming a therapist
I became a therapist after relying heavily on therapy after grieving a child I was close to, who was murdered. Sometimes the people and places we find ourselves around in life are complicated and we need help to sort it out. I'm a huge nerd so I really dove into the theories used by therapists. I got so into it that I decided to go back to school and start my own practice helping other people learn about treating anxiety and trauma. I think that's true for most therapists. I personally wouldn't want to work with a therapist that hasn't been a client and seen what it feels like to do their own work.
My Values
I believe that our society is hurting and that it is normal to feel traumatized and anxious after walking though some of the experiences we share. At the same time, it is still possible to choose to live a joyful, happy life - and it is our responsibility to show up and get the tools and information we need to heal, so that we can leave a better world for the next generation. Therapy is a way to organize all of that, and make peace with the past, and cultivate an action plan towards your dreams for the future.
I love my job. It is an honor to listen to heartbreaking and heartwarming stories alike - and to work together with clients to heal, and experience more joy. One of the most rewarding things about being a therapist for me, is when former clients reach out to tell me about a career, or family success they have experienced as a result of things they learned through our time together, years later.