"There is a voice that doesn't use words.  Listen." - Rumi

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One of the most important factors in therapy success is the relationship between the client and therapist.  My role in our relationship is to be a compassionate guide as we explore your inner world and remove the obstacles preventing you from your instinctual potential towards healing and growth.  Together we will work in the present to heal your past and move towards your future.  I work collaboratively and humbly with you without taking an expert position in your life. 
 

I take an active approach to therapy, hoping to provide you with skills and tools ASAP to begin to give you a sense of agency over your symptoms.  My hope is that you will take what we do during session and apply it to your life outside of therapy in the form of self-therapy.  This may look like journaling, reading books, applying and practicing new techniques, incorporating mindfulness practices, use of art, etc.  By performing self-therapy, you may achieve goals at a faster rate because you are the creator of change. 

 

As you gain confidence you may find yourself booking sessions further apart, you may take a break and come back, or you may stop attending all together.  Whatever you choose, my door will remain open should you feel you want or need to come back.  

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For those who are curious about my theoretical stance, I take a nurturing, empathetic and humanistic approach to communicating with clients and orient my work through attachment, neuroscience, somatic/Gestalt, parts work and narrative frameworks.  I pull from all theories to provide an eclectic mix of tools and techniques to best suit each client's needs. 

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Working with Trauma:

I take a holistic approach to treating trauma by combining talk therapy to engage your logical neocortex (thinking and reasoning part of your brain) with somatic and emotion-based therapy to engage your nervous system (feelings and emotions) to bring about change and create wholeness.  

 

Why do I do this?  Awareness and understanding, CBT/DBT therapy techniques such as changing our thoughts/how we think, changing our behavioral patterns/reactions are not enough to heal our trauma.  You may find yourself feeling unfulfilled in traditional talk therapy, being told to "process your emotions" but not being guided through the process and left feeling confused, defeated, and maybe even feeling like you're failing therapy somehow.  As a therapist I provide a flashlight and guidance to explore all the parts of yourself you've kept in the shadows in order to survive, process the sharp glass shards of traumatic memories, actually teach you how to process your emotions, and reclaim the parts of yourself you've lost along the way on the journey towards wholeness.  

 

I ground our work in these somatic approaches: Brainspotting (what is that?),  Accelerated Resolution Therapy (what is that?), DNMS (what is that?) and trauma-sensitive mindfulness to guide you through healing the "stuck" trauma.  

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Education: 

Master of Arts in Psychology
Phillips Graduate University

Thesis: Ghosts of Childhood Past: Pathological Narcissism as a Defense Mechanism and its Impact on Future Generations

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
California State University, Northridge