Practice Philosophy

As a therapist I assist both individuals and couples explore and improve areas in life that need guidance and support. I am eclectic in my approach blending a number of different modalities including using cognitive-behavioral, systemic, mindfulness and psychodynamic orientations. This allows me to help clients best address their concerns and meet them right where they are in life. Sometimes we’ll need to address situations in the here and now, where solutions to our immediate problems can be explored. Here we can learn to manage life more effectively. At other times, we may need to go deeper and see how our past influences our world today. This can help illustrate our patterns, our pesky little defenses, or how we interact and connect with others. This may also show how we sabotage ourselves or how we accept or reject love in the subtlest of ways. Together, we’ll build a collaborative approach designed to fit in with your specific need and goals. Together, we’ll explore your unique story and allow you to face life with more integrity, authenticity and love.

Specialties

Individuals

My work with individuals is supportive, exploratory and expressive. I feel that therapy is the perfect place to connect with yourself and your feelings. It is a space for you to learn to go within and observe aspects and patterns which may not be initially visible. Some will be easy to see while others will lie in the shadows of our unconscious. There will be some aspects for which you can be proud of, some of which may feel off, and others which may simply pass unnoticed. Therapy is a process to shine light on where you’re operating from and allow you to analyze what’s still left to explore. It’s a safe space to learn about your inner workings and get to know how they play into our feelings and behaviors.

One of the great benefits of self-awareness is choice. Once you can improve your understanding of yourself and grasp how unconscious motives drive much of your behavior, you have the opportunity to choose to unlearn and shed the ones that hurt you while keeping the ones that serve you. Our past experiences shape our current lives and can sometimes interfere with how we show up for ourselves and our closest relationships. As we become increasingly aware of our choices and find the true essence of our being, we gain insight into how we show up for ourselves and others.

Couples

As a Marriage and Family therapist, my work considers that the majority of our stressors, emotions, and responding behaviors stem from systemic influences. Families in this sense, represent an emotional unit which often exhibit underlying patterns that drive how we feel and behave in relationships. Patterns often continue from one generation to the next to shape our view of the world and how we interact in current relationships. From this perspective, our current relational dynamics reflect how our earliest relationships were formed. This is when we learned to know what love looks like, what it feels like, and how it frames our relationship expectations with others. For many of us, this can sometimes feel rewarding, but when relational conflict or problems arise, it may symbolize some areas within us, within our partners, or within our relationship that may need attention. When we remain too confined to our system or family of origin, we may not be able to differentiate ourselves or create a healthier relational narrative. In order to have a more conscious relationship, we need to understand these dynamics and see how we can learn to move past our earlier wounds to develop a more meaningful connection.

Background

I fell in love with the study of the human mind during my first high school psychology class. While getting my undergraduate psychology degree at Florida International University, I worked at a crisis center with both children and adults. Valuing experiences different from what one already knows and my satisfying my own curious nature to explore. I moved to Los Angeles for my graduate work at Antioch University where I completed a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology with Emphasis in Marriage and Family. I have worked in the hospital setting with children and their families mostly dealing with parent divorce, bulling, and low self-esteem.  Most of my career has been in private practice with clients of all ages seeking help with, anxiety, college bound readiness, pre-marital counseling, couples dealing with marital conflict, communication issues, sexless marriage and infidelity, co-parenting, and life transitions.

I value exploration of cultures and life experiences beyond what one is born into. I love to listen to Audiobooks, travel, spend time with my husband and cat. I enjoy connecting to the arts and enjoy stimulating conversations.