I spent years being told I was too sensitive, finding ways to numb what felt overwhelming and running from myself at every turn. Eventually life cornered me, and when I couldn't run anymore, I finally turned inward. What I found there was profound grief and loss that I had been avoiding. My path to this work emerged from learning to stay with my own depths and gradually uncovering light within the shadows.
I intimately understand what it means to struggle with reality, a sense of purpose, and to feel trapped in cyclical patterns. This lived experience, woven together with my training, allows me to meet you as a companion and fellow grief walker on the path to making sense of the inexplicable and what it asks of you. In our sessions together, you'll find someone who can hold space for the complexity of being human.
My practice is influenced by personal experiences with trauma and anxiety, living with an autoimmune condition, ancestral healing, bodywork, energy practices, intersectional feminism, plant medicine, and house music as a vehicle for self-expression and connection.
My practice is also informed by Engaged Buddhism through the Plum Village tradition which teaches that individual healing and collective healing are interdependent. When we tend to our own pain with compassion and courage, we build our capacities to show up for the people and communities we care about and engage in meaningful action. Therapy becomes one of many tools for creating the positive impact we want to see in the inside and the outside.
Education
Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, Certificate in Trauma Studies (In Progress)
California Institute of Integral Studies, Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Somatic Psychology
University of California, Santa Barbara, Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies
License
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with the Board of Behavioral Sciences, #154688
Ongoing Consultation
Monthly EMDR Consultation with Cathy Hanville, LCSW
Trainings
EMDR Basic Training (working towards certification) through EMDR Education & Training Center
4 Blinks Version of Flash with Thomas Zimmerman
Lifespan Integration, Level 1 +2
Internal Family Systems with Frank Anderson and lots of self-study
Coherence Therapy, Kina Wolfenstein & self-study
Somatic Experiencing, Beginning I
AEDP Immersion
CBT-based training for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors through the TLC Foundation
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy with Russ Harris through Psychwire
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy with Lane Pederson through PESI
Motivational Interviewing with Dr. Emily Wharton