I am a Clinical Psychologist licensed to practice in California and New York, and received my Doctorate of Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California.

I am experienced in treating adolescents, adults, and couples who struggle with a wide range of emotional, behavioral, and/or interpersonal issues. I am available to those who have struggled to find a therapist, to be heard, and to feel safe in relation to therapists, intimate partnerships, family dynamics, and institutions. I have specialties in working with individuals who have a history of childhood abuse and complex trauma. Many individuals I work with struggle with experiences of adverse anxiety, self-blame, self-criticism, unworthiness, hopelessness and/or helplessness, guilt, irritability, heightened stress and pressure, over-working, and/or difficulties with relationships.

Over the past thirteen years I have worked with diverse populations in varied clinical settings. I have worked in many settings where individuals are being introduced to therapy for the first time, for example immigrant families, youth of color groups, queer/LGBT+ serving organizations, and low-income communities. I examine the ways collective trauma can shape identities and affect health. Equally important, I emphasize interpersonal and intergenerational community healing in my work. My background and history working with community based and advocacy organizations inspires my interests in working with and increasing health access for marginalized people, including Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BBIPOC), and LGBTQ+ communities.

I grew up in a community where we did not talk about our feelings, and we did not talk about mental health. People suffered in silence. To learn how to give voice to our experiences, to name our pain, to speak out loud is a process and a journey, and I will be your guide. In my own journey with therapy I felt safest with therapists who accepted that they themselves were still learning, and that it’s okay to not know what we don’t yet know. What I understand about safety now, is that while it may be frightening to uncover the truest parts of myself, I can be accepted and loved for who I am.

Safety in our therapeutic relationship won’t necessarily mean that we are always comfortable, but rather, learning to be uncomfortable together. A relational approach to therapy means that we can be all the parts of us, within our own relationship to each other as therapist and client. The purpose of this approach is that this skill building and acceptance of self translates into your relationships outside of session. We practice this in the room.

The therapist I am today is shaped by my experiences in therapy as well as in the therapist’s chair. I create a space of exploration with clients that give permission to feel all the many different emotions we can feel. We will speak to the hidden truths that lie within us, the ones that make us feel guilt or shame, so we feel less trapped and learn to breathe our truths with more ease and acceptance.