I’m so glad you’re here!
My Focus
My focus is to provide excellent, effective, and empathic counseling for teens, adults, and couples/relationships in California. I currently offer virtual and in-person sessions, and I love to work with all types of people. My clients are often folks experiencing relational challenges, betrayal, ADHD, anxiety, trauma, mood disorders, body image concerns, and/or disordered eating. I also work with creative professionals, people going through artistic blocks, women navigating menopause, people experiencing life/career transitions, and the wide scope of questions encompassing identity. If any of this sounds like it aligns with your needs, we may be a good fit!
my values
-
Communication is vital in therapy. A such, I will sometimes ask you if I’m understanding you correctly to ensure that I’m perfectly clear about what you’re saying. In addition, I may ask you if it is ok for me to interrupt you occasionally in order to confirm that I have an accurate sense of what you’re describing and experiencing. I will also ask you how our sessions are for you, to make sure that I am meeting your therapeutic needs.
-
Therapy with me is a collaborative process. We’ll work together to understand what your main priorities are and how to best serve you to ensure your needs are met. In our work together, while I am right beside you, you are always the expert on you.
-
Simple kindness can do wonders in softening our inner and outer critics and fostering compassion and patience with ourselves and others. This can lead to more fulfilling relationships with ourselves and with the ones we love.
My Clinical Training
I have worked clinically with clients from a wide range of religious, spiritual, professional, cultural, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds, as well as working with many clients from communities of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, first generation college students, students shifting from high school to college, and student athletes. I have worked with clients ages 18 to 82, and enjoy working with folks in various stages of their life journey. Presenting concerns in my clients include anxiety, depression, OCD, trauma, PTSD, ADHD, grief, disordered eating, body image concerns, betrayal trauma, mood disorders, identity issues, sexuality/sex concerns, adjustment difficulties, relationship issues, professional development/transition, creative blocks, and much more.
MY SPECIALTIES
-
Trauma may be experienced in acute instances, such as an accident, or over a sustained period of time, such as in long-term abuse. As a result of trauma, some people may develop symptoms of PTSD, which include avoidance, flashbacks, hypervigilance, and negative mood/cognition. Talk therapy has been shown to be effective in helping to treat trauma and PTSD. You don’t have to continue to suffer alone. We can process your experiences together, and at your pace, so that you may reach a place of integration and increased peace.
-
Life is full of important transitions, many of which can prove challenging to navigate alone. Understanding who you are at your core is the key to making successful choices for yourself both personally and professionally. This is a big part of therapy- to get to know and understand your authentic self, your needs, your desires, what fills you up, what drains you, what excites you, what brings you joy, what scares you…..and why. This internal therapeutic work applies beautifully to people exploring life and/or professional transitions and helps increase self-knowledge and personal agency when making big choices. In addition to making choices, you may be going through shifts in family life or in your body, such as in peri-menopause or menopause. With all this in mind, I look forward to hearing what brings you in and how we can work together!
-
Many people experience occasional anxiety, and this is normal. Healthy anxiety can even sometimes be useful in propelling people forward towards their desired goals. Yet for many people, anxiety becomes a barrier to their hopes and dreams. It travels with them consistently causing disruption and distress. Together we can work to understand what is causing your anxiety and learn to manage your symptoms so that anxiety is no longer in charge… and you can reclaim your life.
-
Working as an artist or a creative professional can be interesting, exciting, and fulfilling. Sometimes, however, artistic people find that they become stuck and feel challenged in accessing their creative ideas. You may have had this feeling yourself, often described as a “creative block.” A block like this may occur for a number of reasons, from your work environment, to your sense of competence, to a fear of vulnerability, and much, much more. In our sessions we will explore your experiences and work to understand which parts of yourself may be keeping you from being your most joyfully creative self.
-
Relationships can be a struggle for many people, and it is quite common for people to seek support in the relational area. Whether you’re having the same argument again and again, can’t seem to connect like you used to, feel abandoned or betrayed, or are having trouble with intimacy, I am here to support you. I delight in working with couples and relationships of all sorts, and welcome you wherever you are in your relationship without judgement.
-
Eating disorders are dangerous and can be very scary, both for the person experiencing them and for their loved ones. As an eating disorder survivor, I have lived experience in battling these challenges and deep compassion for the complexities that accompany mind/body difficulties. In working with disordered eating, Internal Family Systems (IFS) can be very useful. IFS recognizes the multiplicity inside of us and acknowledges that while some parts of us may want to stop our eating disordered behavior, others do not…as these behaviors are often actually a form of protection. Together we will work to understand what you are going through and how to best bring you increased peace, personal choice, confidence, and freedom. I look forward to meeting you and working with your brave heart.
My Background
I was born and raised in Sonoma County, on the unceded ancestral land of the Coast Miwok, Pomo, and Wappo people. I grew up in the West County, with the fortune of playing in its lush forest creeks, tall redwoods, open meadows, and blooming apple orchards. While I loved living in the country as a child, as an emerging adult I craved an urban experience and went to school at UC Berkeley. I also lived in San Francisco for many years, where I worked as a creative executive in its vibrant urban environment. Ultimately though, Sonoma County has my heart and I happily returned here in the early 2000s.
I have always been deeply interested in the human condition and studied this topic extensively through my early work in studio art and art history. Training to teach yoga after many years of practice furthered my understanding of how our body and mind are interwoven and how their relationship impacts our wellbeing. Over the years my focus revealed itself to be connection, communication, self-expression, and authentic self-understanding. This led me to study the art and science of psychotherapy, a synthesis of all the topics I treasure. I’m passionate about psychology, visual art, writing, music, plants, trees, movement, and my family and friends. It’s a distinct honor, pleasure, and privilege to serve and support the unique community which I hold so dear.
EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS
MS, Counseling Psychology (duel focus on MFT/PCC), Dominican University of California
MA, Art History/ Women in Art, San Francisco State University
BA, Studio Art/Costume Design, University of California at Berkeley
Additional Classes & Trainings
Workshop: IFS Therapy for Healing Traumatic Wounds & Alleviating Anxiety, Dr. Alexia D. Rothman, 2024
Class: From Conflict to Connection: Esther Perel, 2024
Trainings on attachment, relationships, sexual wellbeing, disordered eating, healing shame, and couple counseling through IFS, EFT, and relational lenses, Tatra-Li de la Rosa LMFT, 2024, 2025
Class: Women in peri/menopause, 6 hours of class through Sutter Institute for Health and Healing, San Francisco, 2023
Trainings in Control Mastery Theory for depression, anxiety, dissociative disorders, personality disorders, and more, Diane Suffridge, Ph.D. at DUC, 2022-2023
Trainings in disordered eating/ body image, Willow Mind & Body at DUC, 2022 & 2023
Workshop: Control Mastery Theory for Personality Disorders, (SFPRG), 2022
CAMFT Class: Telehealth Law & Ethics, 2022
Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, AMFT # 145251, and Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor, APCC #15939, supervised by Tatra-Li de la Rosa, LMFT #83945
Professional Certificates, Designations, & Associations
IFS (Internal Family Systems) Informed
150+ Hour Certified Yoga Instructor, It’s Yoga San Francisco
30 Hour trained crisis/suicide intervention counselor
Member of CAMFT (General Association)
Member of Redwood Empire CAMFT
Member of Marin County CAMFT
Member of San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group (SFPRG)