About My Practice

I have been working over the past fifteen years, towards learning the most effective therapies to discover the roots of dysfunction and guiding clients toward healing from the roots up.  I work with adults, children, families, and I especially enjoy working with adolescents and young adults. I draw from practices that treat mental illness as well as those that promote overall well being and healthy growth. 

I have worked in numerous settings in my time as a clinician: schools for youth with severe behavioral problems, a residential eating disorder program, a community agency for homeless youth, inpatient settings, outpatient settings, and at a community crisis site.  In all of these settings, I witnessed people suffering from the burdens of their past negative life events and circumstances impacting their present.  Since my very first internship, I have been striving to develop clinical strategies to interrupt the patterns that lead to suffering.

I use many tools to support people who are working to get unstuck:

1. EMDR - especially useful for symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD & attachment trauma, OCD, difficulty in relationships, and compulsive behaviors

2. Art Therapy -especially useful for visual thinkers,  trauma & processing difficult life events, relationship challenges, identity exploration, children, anxiety, life-coaching, and developing increased self insight.

3. Expressive therapy/ Sand Tray - similar benefits to Art Therapy, but I am able to accommodate a wide array of expressive media for personal exploration and expression: creating meaningful sand trays, making a playlist that says something about your experience, writing, movement, role play

4. Mindfulness - especially useful for anxiety, troubling thoughts, shifting relationship to pain, mental wellness and mastery, impulsivity or compulsive behaviors, addictions and substance abuse)

5. Shame resilience and self-compassion practices, especially for people who struggle with self-worth, low self-esteem, self-harming behaviors, self-sabotage, repeating cycles of unwanted behavior

6. Executive Function Coaching - especially for ADHD, ASD, Complex trauma, improving your ability to achieve goals, improving ‘adulting’

7. Positive Neuroplasticity - especially useful to structurally increase your brain's capacity for positive emotions, developing mental habits for increased happiness and serenity

8. Motivational Interviewing - especially useful for substance abuse, compulsive behaviors, resolving ambivalence about making changes, relapse prevention

9. ACT - Learn to live a fuller life with your symptoms rather than putting off living until your symptoms resolve

10. I have lived experience of the LGBTQ community and I am sensitive to the needs of transgender, genderqueer, and questioning individuals. 

    I am thoughtful and adaptable in developing a customized therapeutic approach to suit each client's particular needs. I believe the foundation of any strong therapeutic relationship is trust, and I work with every client to build a mutually trusting relationship over the course of therapy. 
     
    I have a Masters Degree in Art Therapy from Springfield College, where I completed the credentials to become a Mental Health Counselor. I received a Bachelors in Fine Arts from San Francisco State University. 

    If you have any questions about my background or expertise, or if you would like to schedule a consultation, please contact me.