Have you ever asked yourself:
“How did I get to this place in my life?”
“What do I have to do to feel better?”
Together we can find your answers.
GAIN INSIGHTS | ALLEVIATE HURT | REDUCE DESTRUCTIVE PATTERNS | IMPROVE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Working together to achieve balance, confidence and contentment.
I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#MFC 51625) and have been seeing clients in the Bay Area for over 15 years. I provide affordable, relational and client-centered psychotherapy to adult individuals and couples. Contact me to learn more about my approach – I offer a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your needs, or other questions you might have about psychotherapy.
SPECIALIZING IN:
Anxiety • Intimacy & Communication in Relationships • LGBTQ • Major Life Transitions •
Non-Binary, Transgender & Gender-Diverse Expression & Identification • Polyamorous, Non-Monogamous & Open Relationships
ANXIETY
Anxiety, when untreated, can overtake your life and make everything feel more difficult than it needs to. Whether you are suffering from mild to moderate anxiety that comes and goes, have a phobia that triggers your anxiety or have ongoing panic attacks that make you question whether or not you are going to make it, anxiety feels terrible.
The good news is that anxiety of any size can be managed and will lessen over time with the right support and treatment. As someone who has experienced clinical anxiety myself, I know both how it feels AND how to treat it. Together we can work towards a personalized plan that will reduce your anxiety and make your life easier.
INTIMACY & COMMUNICATION IN RELATIONSHIPS
Maintaining healthy intimacy and communication in relationships is usually not easy and requires a bit of work. You might begin a relationship and feel the level of intimacy and communication is just right and then something happens over time to shift that ideal and you find yourself in a relationship that lacks both. Or, you may be just beginning a relationship and feel intimacy and/or communication isn’t where you want it to be. Or maybe you and your partner have very different communication styles and want to make sure that you are both heard.
Whether you want to work individually or with your partner in therapy, we can find the solutions you need to ensure that your relationship has the balance that works for you.
LGBTQ
Even in the Bay Area, which is certainly more inclusive and tolerant of the LGBTQ+ community than many other parts of the world, homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism still exist and can be internalized, leading to anxiety, depression, exhaustion, anger and hurt. Such exposure can take a psychological toll and having a safe space to talk about your experiences can make a significant difference in how you feel and navigate in the world. As a member of the LGBTQ community, I offer the kind of understanding and support that can make this difference.
Significant life decisions can take you from the known, which can feel safe and secure, or at the very least familiar, to the unknown. This can feel exciting, but can also feel scary, intimidating and might induce anxiety and/or depression. Sometimes additional support is needed to make it through these emotional transitions.
If you have just made a major life decision and are trying to figure out how to cope, or are thinking of making an important decision that will bring about substantial change, talking to a psychotherapist can help. We can explore fears, assumptions and projections that might come up and find out what is underlying them to reach a better place of understanding.
MAJOR LIFE TRANSITIONS
For some, gender is something that goes unexamined and is assumed fixed throughout life. I am someone who believes that all of us exist on a gender spectrum that we move along throughout our lives. Some find a spot along that spectrum that feels good and stick with it, while others like to play with gender a bit more and occupy various spots at different times. Sometimes, the spot that fits doesn’t correspond to the biological sex we were assigned at birth and challenging or hurtful situations can arise regarding how to express gender to the world.
If you are a person who is exploring and/or struggling with gender and gender expression, finding a therapist with my point of view can be both meaningful and helpful.
NON-BINARY, TRANSGENDER & GENDER-DIVERSE EXPRESSION & IDENTIFICATION
Far too many people, including psychotherapists, have heard and internalized unrealistic and harmful messages about who to love, how many people to love and/or be intimate with at one time, and what relationships “should” look like. I personally believe that monogamy is not the norm, but rather something that is strictly enforced, encouraged and assumed to be the ideal, and that many people struggle with finding fulfillment with only one partner.
Whether you are already in a non-monogamous relationship and are having some challenges or are considering opening up your previously closed relationship, speaking to a knowledgeable and nonjudgemental therapist can help you and your partners get to a better place of intimacy and understanding.