I am a respectful, transparent, non-judgmental therapist experienced with working with individuals and families dealing with depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, substance use, relationship struggles & development. My clinical focus is individuals and families living with chronic health conditions. I help people learn to manage their emotions, enhance loving relationships with others, make decisions that fit their values, and understand why they do what they do. I offer an Empowered Relief 2 hour online class to help relief pain that his highly effective for pain management. I also offer Accelerated Resolution Therapy, an evidence based memory reconsolidation process to help heal turamitic experiences that may be causing current symptoms. I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. This means I have earned a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, completed more than 3500 hours employed in community-based agencies, schools, clinics, residential substance abuse and eating disorder inpatient and outpatient programs and have spent more than 2000 hours working directly with individuals. My work as a therapist has only deepened my awe & respect for the strengths and challenges that we all meet in life. My experience includes working in private practice in my office and offering Walk & Talk Therapy in nature, as well as HIPPA protected Telehealth, on-line psychotherapy. I am committed to evidence-based treatment. Over the years I have been certified in teaching Mindfulness practices to many diverse groups. I attended and spoke at Oxford University’s Mindfulness Center with participants from around the globe. Mindfulness practice is an exceptional tool to help us self-regulate and open to creativity. I offer Mindfulness Mentoring groups that provide mindfulness practice, support and community. I am trained as a scientist. I received my bachelor’s degree at Pennsylvania State University and hold a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management from University of California, Berkeley. My earlier work was that of a naturalist in the Galapagos islands and as a wildlife researcher in Kenya, East Africa. I have lived on three different continents and embrace our cultural differences and values. I believe Culture is an extremely powerful influence in our lives. My work is influenced by a Systems-based approach based in biology, neuroscience and psychology. My Clinical Psychology graduate degree is from Notre Dame de Namur University and my research and thesis focused on how multiple chronic health conditions, including mental health effect our capacity to make choices and function well. My career in psychology was initiated by my family. During my time as a parent to young children, our family experienced a diagnosis of Type one diabetes with our son, who was age 4 at the time. Another son was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder of Kawasaki disease. These were challenging experiences and required learning new processes and emphasized the inner connections of body/mind and the importance of emotional regulation, stress reduction both individually and in a family system. I believe in a collaborative approach where you and I will work together to manage your current concerns and construct a path to greater resilience. It may be helpful to discuss past history in order to resolve current symptoms and deal with past trauma. At times, it is beneficial to focus on the "here and now" as we investigate new future aspirations over the life span. We constantly evolve and grow; my goal is to assist you on your journey.
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