My approach:

Working in schools and the nonprofit sector immersed me in a broad range of challenges, behaviors, and cultures, and I gravitated toward who I felt most creative working with. Regardless of setting, I consistently felt pulled toward divergent thinkers, people who understood and experienced the world so differently from the rest of the crowd. It's hard to excel when the demands of others push you to abandon your natural divergent thinking.

I enjoy taking large amounts of data and making sense of it. My clients routinely infodump, speak quickly, and provide a lot of backstory. I'm drawn to the layers in order to find the throughline. Complexity demands creativity to navigate it, and I enjoy the challenge. I continued this trend when I transitioned to private practice. My goal is simple: find the most creative path to make therapy work for you.

My background:

From the start you'll notice that I'm excited yet attuned. Understanding you is very important to me. You'll often hear me say "am I understanding you right?" because thoroughly connecting to your experience matters. To me, this is what affirming your experience is all about.

I see people as existing in layers of responsibilities and life domains. When we make change in one domain, there are ripple effects in other parts of your life. When we think about change, I encourage you to resist the urge to change everything at once. Change works best as a principle of compound interest: one thing at a time, building on top of each one thing, leads to lasting improvement.

For those who like to be thorough, here are the evidence-based approaches I use in therapy:

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

• Psychodynamic Therapy

• Person-Centered Therapy

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

In addition to private practice, I provide clinical supervision to pre-licensed therapists, offering guidance, support, and feedback as they develop their clinical skills and professional identity.

Outside of Work:

I go for walks nearly every day and they’re my favorite thing to do. I have 2 goofy dogs and 2 sassy cats who keep me very busy! During my free time, I cheer on the Dodgers, Chargers, and McLaren in Formula 1. I make efforts to stay creative by writing, drawing, painting, jewelry making, or any other new creative endeavor that sounds fun.

My education:

• University of Southern California (USC) Master’s of Marriage and Family Therapy, 2016

• University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) BA Psychology & Comparative Literature, 2014

Other Training:

• EMDR Basic Trained by the Trauma Therapist Institute, 2022. I’m pursuing certification in this and receive ongoing EMDR-focused consultation by an EMDRIA-certified consultant.

If you’re interested in scheduling a consultation, please contact me.