With a warm and friendly presence, I offer a collaborative experience of therapy. I have helped many individuals handle difficult work situations or career changes in academia, tech, and other fields. I also enjoy supporting people who are facing day-to-day stressors, loss, transitions, or issues with parenting. With exploration, individuals can discover new and creative ways to think about and address life challenges. In addition to individual and couples counseling, I offer mediation and conflict resolution services.

Hello! ^_^ Welcome to my GoodTherapy Profile ^_^ Are you looking for a therapist who really gets you, who you can feel comfortable with, and really open up to? Some therapists are super stiff, rigid professionals who give very little of themselves in session. That's not me. I am very open, genuine, and personable in session and strive to make positive, meaningful relationships with my clients. People often comment that I am very friendly and approachable, and this tends to be something people respond well to in a therapist. I work with a wide variety of people in therapy but I primarily specialize in working with: -Couples -Teens -LGBTQ clients -Addiction -Sex positive, kink aware, and polyamory I sometimes tell people that I broadly specialize in working with anyone who is used to being or expects to be judged by others. If you've got anything going on in life that you feel like most people would judge or be weirded out by and you want someone safe and accepting to talk to, I'm the therapist for you! :-p

Therapy means many different things to different people. For some it is a journey of growth, self-awareness, and healing. For others it is necessary for them to survive. For some it is something they are mandated to do, and for many it is something they really want to do. No matter where you fall on this spectrum, I am here to support you through your process. Therapy is about where you are, where you want to go, what you want to explore, and joining you on your experience. I am here to listen, to guide you, focus you, support you and push you when needed.

~ I specialize in Couple's Counseling & Marriage Counseling ~ Feel like you're always fighting? Feeling alone? Unsure where to turn? I will work with both of you to begin to understand the cycle of fighting that you get stuck in so that you can begin to step out of it and master the skills that bring you close again. Emotionally Focused Therapy (the Couple's Counseling method I specialize in) has been show to be 75% effective in bringing couple's from distress to recovery and 90% of couples experience some benefit. Join the 90%.

Congratulations--by seeking counseling, you're taking the first step in helping yourself! Research shows that because you're motivated to search for a therapist, you possess the inner resources, resilience, and will to change. I love people and am passionate about doing excellent therapy. I offer brief-term counseling for rapid symptom reduction, as well longer-term psychotherapy for deeper exploration. I work collaboratively with you to insure we're optimizing a tailor-made treatment for your unique needs. I have a wide range of experienced over the past 45 years, and my specialties include: anxiety; depression; chronic painillness, relationship issues--in individual andor couples, sexual difficulties, and cross-cultural conflicts. I also do mindfulness training, including meditation instruction. I use many interventions, e.g. psychodynamic, mindfulness training, humanistic, interpersonalrelational, cognitive-behavioral, ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy), communication skills. Depending on your preference and needs, I do sessions in-office, telephone, WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Skype with video. Please visit my website for more information or Feel free to call for a free phone consultation.

I believe that it is important as a psychotherapist to approach the work from a place of groundedness in my perspective and orientation, while being flexible enough to understand where you as the client are coming from and what your individual needs are. I largely work from an analytically-based relational psychotherapy perspective, though believe it is useful and necessary to draw from different treatment models to come up with a plan together with my clients that feels constructive and valuable. I work hard to find a balance between meeting my clients where they are at emotionally, and listening closely for unconscious material that may be impacting their lives in counter-productive, emotionally painful, or even harmful ways. In addition, I come from a social justice and philosophy background which very much impacts my clinical perspective and approach with clients. I understand and have deep respect for the difficult and vulnerable place people can be in when they are searching for a therapist, and encourage people interested by my approach to call with any questions to see whether we'd be a good fit.

Embody your truth. Embrace your passion. Follow your path. Working together to support your healing process and bring forward your own unique resiliency and self-expression. I use an experiential approach in counseling, where we follow the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sensations that are occurring in the present moment as the window to explore deeper-held beliefs. Together, we find what is at the core of these beliefs and create new ways of understanding to bring forward an updated perspective that leads from your most authentic, empowered self. Through feeling ourselves, we can know ourselves, and through knowing ourselves, we have a greater capacity for self-acceptance and the empowerment to choose the life we want to live. Drawing from my training in the Hakomi Method of Mindful and Somatic Psychotherapy as well as psychodynamic theory, attachment theory, person-centered psychotherapy, and depth psychology, I use mindfulness, body-awareness, touch, movement, and dreamwork to help facilitate my client's process.

In a safe, confidential environment I help you examine those aspects of life that are not working for you and assists you in developing your own solutions to those problems. I have listened to clients over 45.000 hour since I started my private practice and I am known for my ability to uncover core issues rapidly and help you generate breakthroughs with sustainable results. My direct approach allows you to make the necessary changes in your life within a short period of time. I am very interactive and I share my thoughts with you as we work together. I will point to books, podcasts and videos that may speed up your self discovery process.

You've probably already done some work on yourself. Maybe years of it. You can see your patterns clearly, you know where they came from, and you can even predict them before they happen. But somehow that hasn't been enough. The old response still shows up anyway. That's usually where people find me. Not at the start of figuring things out, but stuck a little further down the road, frustrated that understanding something hasn't actually changed it. I work with individuals and couples around anxiety, trauma, identity, and the relationship patterns that keep repeating without anyone choosing them. I draw on somatic therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), narrative work, and attachment theory, mostly because I've found that real change usually needs more than talking things through. It needs the body to catch up, and it often means looking honestly at the stories you were handed about who you're supposed to be. None of this requires having the right words ready when you walk in. We'll find them as we go.

I think of therapy as like sanctuary - a place where there aren't distractions, where there is an opportunity to pay attention to what is important, in a spirit of kindness. Because of this, many individuals and couples find it to be enjoyable, and very relieving. Of course, since people do therapy to work on painful things, therapy itself isn't always easy. But at least things can be approached thoughtfully and skillfully, in a safe context, and this itself brings great benefits. I work to help you to settle in with yourself, so that you can relate to your life from the deepest, most genuine place possible. Together, we can consider how you relate to yourself and to others - after all, our relationships with ourselves and with others are central to the quality of our lives. I find that from this kind of conversation skillful responses to inner concerns and relationship difficulties arise. I am very experienced at helping people with relationship problems or lack of relationships, anxiety, sadness and depression, with patterns of self-criticism and difficulty relaxing, history of trauma, grief and loss.

You may look capable and composed on the outside while privately feeling anxious, overwhelmed, self-critical, or stuck. You may be dealing with overthinking, perfectionism, social anxiety, depression, relationship or family concerns, or a difficult life transition or decision. I help thoughtful adults and young adults understand what is keeping these patterns going and make practical changes that carry into daily life. My style is warm, direct, active, and collaborative. I begin with a thoughtful clinical assessment of your symptoms, history, relationships, culture, strengths, values, and goals, then tailor treatment to you rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all model. I draw from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), psychodynamic and relational therapy, mindfulness, and culturally responsive care. I am a California-licensed clinical psychologist who completed an American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited doctoral program, predoctoral internship, and postdoctoral fellowship, followed by nine years in Kaiser Permanente Adult Outpatient Psychiatry. Therapy with me combines psychological depth with practical change: we work to understand the patterns keeping you stuck and practice new ways of responding so insight becomes useful outside the therapy room. I offer individual therapy in person in San Francisco and online throughout California. My practice is private pay and out-of-network; superbills are available for clients seeking possible reimbursement. I provide individual therapy for relationship concerns and do not offer couples counseling. A free 10–15 minute video consultation is available to explore fit.

I specialize in treating adolescents and young adults, and also work with many individual adults. Areas of focus include anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, low self-esteem, life transitions, phase of life challenges, skill building (coping, social, stress-management), emotion-regulation, building self-awareness, and communication strategies (assertiveness trainingboundaries). Often, part of my treatment with adolescents includes working with parents to find an effective balance between setting and reinforcing limits and maintaining a positive relationship with their child(ren). While my therapeutic approach varies depending on the specific needs and goals of each client, I utilize techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, and Rogerian Therapy. Most importantly, I believe that connection is a driving force for positive change. I value the unique "story" of each individual with whom I work and am passionate about empowering others to create quality, meaningful lives.