My Background

In over thirty years of working with people, I’ve learned the importance that attachment, safety, and humor have in helping promote real change. There have been two streams of experience that help to guide my work. One is over 30 years of practicing meditation. This practice helps me to create an environment of focused calm where my clients can retreat from the pressures and activity of their outer lives to do the inner work required to make difficult change. It helps me to sit with others in kindness, compassion, and attentiveness while listening to both the possibilities and the problems in their lives.

The other stream of experience is my professional training. I have worked as a teacher, camp director, and preschool director. I have trained with Dr. Bruce D. Perry, with the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, and EMDR-HAP. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). An LCSW is licensed by the State of California as a person providing a service in which a special knowledge of social resources, human capabilities, and the part that unconscious motivation plays in determining behavior is directed at helping people to achieve more adequate, satisfying, and productive social adjustments. Requirements for licensure include an MSW, at least 3,200 hours of supervised work experience, and passage of both a comprehensive written examination and a clinical case examination.

I work with adolescents and adults, parents and couples, families and teachers. In addition to my private practice, I supervise a training program for therapists at a community mental health clinic. I also serve on the Mental Health Committee of Project Avary, a non-profit improving life outcomes for children with parents in prison or jail. For almost two decades I worked in residential treatment, first as a therapist and then as the Clinical Director, with children who had experienced traumatic abuse. I am a recommended therapist by Hand in Hand Parenting, a non-profit nurturing the parent-child connection to foster meaningful communication and connection. I have experience working with abuse, trauma, depression, anxiety, relationship problems, life transitions, and parenting.

Suggested Resources:

Link:
Neuro-science and Mindfulness” a talk by Dan Siegel
Reading:
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suziki

background