Background
I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of California.  I hold a Masters Degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling.  I first became interested in promoting the wellness of others in the early 1990’s by volunteering time leading support groups for women struggling with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD).  This tremendously rewarding experience motivated me to author my first book The PMS Puzzle (Joy Publishing) and to enter graduate school to become a licensed therapist. 

For over a decade (both as an intern and a licensed clinician), I have worked in a variety of settings:  a battered women’s shelter and transitional housing, a counseling center, and in private practice. Counseling with adolescents, teens, young and older adults, my areas of special training and interest center around trauma, abuse, addiction, codependency, grief/loss, and betrayal.  I work with individuals, families, couples, and groups.  

Prior to and during my work as a therapist, I was a California licensed middle and high school Humanities teacher.  For nearly thirty years, it was a privilege not only to teach students but it was also an amazing opportunity to reach out to young people as they often navigated through painful and challenging life experiences. Much of who I am as a person and a therapist has been largely shaped by my experiences as a teacher.

Clinical Perspective
Because of my life experiences and the recovery that I have embraced throughout my healing journey, I believe, know and trust that wellness awaits each of us.  I believe that there is a season for being a victim and that there needs to be time allotted for compassionate understanding and processing of one’s vulnerable position.  I also believe that with hard work and commitment each one of us is capable of moving out of our fragile states and into a place of purposeful authenticity.

Working as a therapist, I most often align myself with two theoretical orientations:  Client Centered and Cognitive Behavioral.  These two methodologies make up the integral structure and support behind my clinical perspective.

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