About Me

Hi, nice to meet you.

Or at least it will be nice to meet you. I'm just eager to start working with you. Getting to witness and be a part of another person's life in such a deep way remains my favorite part of the job, and I truly consider it an honor. I started studying psychology because I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people who were struggling. I have always been able to empathize with a wide variety of people and life experiences, and that is the foundation of my practice. I believe that we are all human, and part of our shared humanity is the need to reach out for support sometimes. 

As your therapist, my goal is to help you find a sense of purpose and meaning in your life, be able to accept and tolerate your emotions, and experience a connection with whatever makes your life worth living. I use my own love of nature, geek culture, sports, podcasts, and other interests to help you create powerful metaphors and narratives to understand your life. I aim to make you the hero of your own story.

My training and approach

I have been in the mental health field for 10 years, since graduating from Smith College with a B.A. in psychology and sociology. I received my Master's in Counseling at California Lutheran University in 2019. Most of my experience has been in community mental health programs. In these programs, I worked with people of all ages who had been diagnosed with what are often called "severe mental illnesses"* or "SMI" (i.e. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, OCD, etc.). 

*I do not generally use the language of "mental illness" in my practice because I find it to be stigmatizing, pathologizing, and unhelpful. However, I understand some people use these terms and I always respect the language my clients use to refer to themselves.

Through these experiences, I became familiar with several innovative approaches to working with people experiencing extreme states and crises. These include the Hearing Voices Network, Open Dialogue, and Contextual Rehabilitation. You can read more about these models here:

When I saw the impact that these approaches had on the participants in the program, I knew this was something I wanted to do with my life. I saw hopeless and distraught individuals and their families transform into creative, lively, hopeful, and playful people.

I approach therapy from a systemic framework - in short, I believe that problems exist between people and not within people. My role as your therapist is to create a relationship and a dialogue in which you can come to understand your experiences as powerful and meaningful. What you decide to do from there is up to you. 

Specific types of problems my approach works best with

Groups of people I work well with and have experience treating