I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist practicing in Marin.  I approach my work with warmth, compassion, and understanding.  I strive to create an environment for you that is safe, accepting, and free of judgement.  I believe that the purpose of therapy is to learn more about ourselves by expressing ourselves openly and honestly without emphasis on what is "right" or "wrong."  This can help us create new ways of dealing with life's challenges and being in relationships.  People who commit to therapy can find that they feel more resilient and empowered in their lives.

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I have experience working with adults, adolescents, couples, and families.  After obtaining my graduate degree at Notre Dame de Namur University, I worked at Community Institute for Psychotherapy providing both brief and long-term depth psychotherapy to people who suffered from a wide range of issues.  I also participated in an outreach program at Davidson Middle School, leading therapeutic groups for kids and providing brief individual therapy.  I have also worked at the Carl B. Metoyer Center for Family Counseling in East Oakland providing brief family therapy, parenting support, and crisis intervention services for at-risk and justice-involved youth.  In addition to working as the main family therapist, I also served as the Clinical Coordinator where I provided supervision to pre-doctoral interns.  I also worked at Bayside Marin's Intensive Out-Patient Substance Abuse Program leading psychoeducational groups and providing depth-oriented individual therapy to those in recovery.

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My work is relational and psychoanalytic.  This means that I utilize a wide variety of interventions (which may include behavioral or other types of interventions) that are simply informed by a relational psychoanalytic way of thinking.  I believe the things we think, feel, and do have some kind of meaning that we may sometimes misunderstand.  I consider the role of your past experiences and work with conscious and unconscious material that arises to make meaning out of your experiences in an effort to connect you to your self more fully.  I listen closely to what you say and ask questions to help both of us better understand your experiences.  I believe that the relationship you and I will forge will also bring new insights into your life and your relationships with others and your self.  This approach allows many to experience naturally lasting changes in their lives in addition to symptom reduction.

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I have written about envy and aggression for their roles in systemic sexism.  I have been selected to presented on the roles of envy and aggression in the supervision of pre-licensed clinicians at the 40th annual APA Division 39 Psychoanalytic Spring Conference.  My professional areas of interests include men's issues, feminism and psychoanalysis, parenthood, complex trauma, suicidality, self-harm, working with dreams, sociopolitical bifurcation, and the experience of bi-culturalism in second and third generation immigrants.

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Education:

B.A. Psychology - George Mason University - Fairfax, VA

M.S. Clinical Psychology Marriage and Family Therapy - Notre Dame de Namur University - Belmont, CA

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Accolades:

Outstanding Service Award - NDNU Clinical Psychology Department

MFT Consortium and Phillips Graduate Institute Stipend Award

Certificate of Recognition - NDNU Clinical Psychology Department

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Lectures, Written and Presented Works:

Facebook Use, Envy and Self-Esteem - Masters Thesis

A Review of Annihilation Anxieties in Psychoanalytic Theory - Lecture at Norte Dame de Namur University

A Review of Annihilation Anxieties in Psychoanalytic Theory - Training offered at the Community Institute for Psychotherapy

Review and Discussion of "Psychoanalysis in El Barrio" - Training offered at the Carl B Metoyer Center for Family Counseling

Destroying Beauty: Envy and Aggression in Supervision - Written and Presented at the 40th Annual APA Div 39 Spring Meeting

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Registration with the BBS:

LMFT117209