Find a Therapist in Salinas, CA

I assume that everyone is doing the best they can to handle the uncertainties and ups & downs of life. People often seek my help when the approaches or strategies that have worked well for them in the past don't fit or help with current circumstances. Or perhaps the old approaches and strategies have always been fraught with problems and now it feels like the right time try to make fundamental changes. In either case, my goal is to collaborate and think together with you so that we can understand what is and is not working for you, why, and to help you come up with more satisfying solutions to your circumstances. My approach is interactive, warm, and direct. I want us to recognize and build on your strengths as well as understand your struggles. I emphasize safety, respect, honesty, and curiosity because these values that facilitate a trusting and collaborative therapeutic relationship.

You might be here because something isn’t working — even if you can’t fully name what it is. Maybe you feel anxious, disconnected, or stuck in patterns that are painful but familiar. You’ve probably been holding it together for a long time — doing what’s expected, showing up for others, managing the day-to-day. But inside, it’s exhausting. You might feel like you’re unraveling, like something is missing, or like no one really sees what you’re carrying. If any of this resonates, I want you to know: you're not alone, and you don't have to keep holding it all by yourself. I work with adults, teens, and couples who are ready to explore what’s underneath the surface. Many of the people I work with have lived through trauma, emotional neglect, or chronic stress — and while they’ve learned how to function, they don’t always feel connected, safe, or whole. You might be navigating anxiety, relationship difficulties, burnout, self-doubt, or patterns that feel impossible to break. I’m here to help you slow down, listen to yourself more deeply, and begin the process of healing from the inside out. My approach to therapy is relational, trauma-informed, and grounded in compassion. I’m not a therapist who sits back in silence. I show up as a real person — present, engaged, and attuned to you. I bring warmth, curiosity, and deep respect for your story. We move at your pace. I don’t believe in pushing or pathologizing. I believe in creating a space where all parts of you are welcome — even the ones you’ve learned to hide, dismiss, or silence. With adults, our work often focuses on healing attachment wounds, reducing anxiety, softening self-criticism, and building more authentic, connected relationships. I help you notice and shift patterns that were once protective but are no longer serving you. We look at how your past might be living in your present — not to stay stuck there, but to understand how it shaped you and how you can move forward with more freedom and self-trust. With teens, I create a calm, grounded space where they can begin to make sense of what they’re feeling and who they’re becoming. Many of the teens I work with feel deeply but don’t always have the words. They might be navigating anxiety, identity questions, family dynamics, or emotional overwhelm. Therapy can be a place where they feel safe to be themselves, ask hard questions, and develop the tools to manage life’s complexities with more resilience. For couples, I support both partners in slowing down reactive patterns, improving communication, and rebuilding emotional safety. Many of the couples I work with are dealing with the impact of past trauma, ruptures in trust, or a sense of emotional disconnection. Together, we create space for honest conversations, deeper understanding, and more meaningful connection — even when it’s hard. At the core of my philosophy is the belief that healing happens in safe, attuned relationship. I don’t see you as a problem to be fixed — I see you as a person worthy of care, curiosity, and compassion. Therapy is not about changing who you are — it’s about reconnecting with yourself in a way that feels empowering and true. I also understand that beginning therapy can feel vulnerable. You don’t have to know exactly what you need or how to say it. You just have to be willing to show up — and I’ll meet you there. Therapy with me is a space where you can breathe. Where you don’t have to minimize your experience or pretend to have it all together. Where you can explore your past without getting stuck in it, and imagine a future that feels more aligned, grounded, and real. If you're ready for therapy that goes beyond coping — therapy that helps you feel more like yourself — I invite you to reach out. Let’s talk about what you’re hoping for and see if working together feels like the right fit. You deserve support that honors your story and helps you move forward. I’d be honored to walk with you.

You long to feel truly safe, secure, and yourself in relationships, but something feels inaccessible. The closer you get to someone, the more confusing and chaotic the experience becomes. You oscillate between leaning in, taking on another person’s interests, needs, and desires as your own, and leaning out, pushing others away or tuning them out in an effort to protect your sense of self. You’d like to find a way to be with other people - your parent, partner, child, or other significant relationship - and with yourself at the same time. I offer depth-oriented, relational psychotherapy, working collaboratively with clients to uncover a deeply held sense of self-awareness, self-assuredness, and capacity for presence. We’ll explore using tools like free association and dreamwork, somatic inquiry, parts work, and our own therapeutic relationship.

The world is wild, and life doesn't pause while we try to make sense of it. I work with teens, young adults, parents, families, and adults navigating midlife and career transitions. I support people experiencing depression, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, and major life changes, and welcome neurodivergent people with curiosity about how you experience the world. My approach is depth-oriented and includes EMDR to help process distressing experiences. Clinical assessment and diagnosis inform our work, but your story is bigger than a diagnosis. Our nervous systems respond to relationships, stress, trauma, and the environments we live in. My goal is to build a judgement free, safe, grounded space where we can honestly and curiously explore who you are, who you've been, and who you're becoming. I draw from education, clinical training, science, and lived experience. If you're looking for a specific approach you don't see listed, reach out, I'd be happy to talk. A few paragraphs can’t capture a person, and they certainly can’t tell you what it feels like to sit across from one. If you’re looking for someone who helps you feel seen, challenged, and understood, I’d be delighted to hear from you. Let’s see if we’re the right fit.

I offer trauma therapy to overthinkers, high achievers, and neurodivergent adults and I'm currently taking new clients! You’re smart, creative, and resourceful, and you're used to holding it all together—but lately you’ve been feeling more and more anxious and overwhelmed. You keep spiraling, burning out, or falling into familiar and frustrating patterns. It feels like the rumination, self-defeating behaviors, people-pleasing, self-criticism, and codependency are getting out of control. Your relationships are suffering, and you've realized you've been neglecting important areas of your life. You want change and need support. I'm here to help you find your feet again. I’m skilled at working with anxiety, traumaPTSD, burnout, ADHD, and LGBTQIA+ issues. I use multiple approaches that engage the body as well as the mind, tailored to meet your needs and goals, so you can go beyond brute willpower or intellectual understanding and get to the deeper roots of your struggles. By working with the beliefs and narratives that steer your choices and how those beliefs and narratives are alive and operating in your body, we can help your entire system find its way out of what's keeping you stuck emotionally and in your relationships. The result is that you feel more calm, more connected inside and out, and better able to live with intention and joy. My style is warm, conversational, and collaborative. I’m here to support your growth and healing with active engagement, curiosity, and expertise. Life can be challenging, but with the right support, you can feel more grounded, self-possessed, and purposeful. Get in touch for a 20-minute free consultation to see if we'd be a good fit!

As a licensed psychologist, I partner with children, adolescents, and young adults navigating life’s most difficult chapters. My primary expertise lies in the assessment and treatment of stress, trauma, and PTSD, to help young people process painful experiences in a safe, and validating space. Additionally, I specialize in managing symptomatology of Attention-DeficitHyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and provide actionable strategies to strengthen executive functioning, improve emotional regulation, and reduce impulsivity. Whether you are managing anxiety and depression, balancing heavy academic and work demands, or wading through a complex life transition, my goal is to help you build real-world coping skills. I blend evidence-based therapeutic approaches such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Harm Reduction, Solution-Focused strategies, and Mindfulness, to empower you to leverage your natural strengths, cultivate self-compassion, and gain the practical tools needed to thrive.

I appreciate helping individuals and couples that just want to live better lives, have deeper relationships, and find more joy in day to day living. Life can be tough. Good therapy offers support, a place to be heard, guidance, and sometimes a place to hear truths that you may not want to hear, but need to hear. I offer a supportive and direct approach to those needing help with sex and relationship issues, anxiety, depression, anger management, trauma, and addictions. I also have a special spot in my heart to support those who have dealt with loss, whether recently or many years ago. Therapy is a space to adapt, stretch, and grow. My work with couples has been influenced by my trainings with couples therapy expert Terry Real (www.terryreal.com) using his Relational Life Therapy model to help couples learn how to go through the natural relational cycles of harmony, disharmony, and repair. I am also a certified sex addiction therapist and a Parnell Institute trained EMDR therapist. Therapy has been a game changer in my own life and I offer a personal and relational approach in my work with clients. Give yourself the gift of therapy and a place to help you navigate the waves of life and relationships. I work with all ages, genders, and sexual identities.

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.

My practice focuses on structured, active work for individuals and couples navigating infidelity, betrayal of trust, and high-stakes relationship crises. The work is especially suited for people who need more than open-ended support: they need truth, accountability, emotional steadiness, and a clearer roadmap for what should happen next. There are two ways to begin: • 60-MINUTE IN-DEPTH FIT SESSION — A focused first clinical meeting to understand what is happening, what feels most urgent, what may need attention first, and whether my approach is the right fit. • 3-HOUR ASSESSMENT & ROADMAP INTENSIVE — A deeper clinical assessment for individuals or couples who want more clarity from the outset. The extended time allows us to understand the presenting crisis more fully, identify important individual and relationship dynamics, and leave with a personalized roadmap for next steps. Either option can stand on its own. Continuing therapy with me is not required. Depending on what has brought you here, our work may focus on: • INDIVIDUALS WHO BROKE TRUST — For women and men whose infidelity or betrayal has been discovered, partly disclosed, or can no longer be avoided. The work provides a private but accountable space to face what happened, understand the choices, secrecy, and patterns that led here, prepare for honest disclosure or accountability, and clarify whether repair, separation, or deeper individual work is needed. • BETRAYED PARTNERS — For partners trying to understand what is true, steady themselves after betrayal trauma, clarify what remains uncertain, and determine what safety, boundaries, accountability, or information they need before making major relationship decisions. • ACUTE INFIDELITY CRISIS — For couples in the immediate aftermath of discovery whose sense of safety, trust, or shared reality has been suddenly destabilized. The first task is to slow the crisis down, reduce further emotional injury, and understand what needs attention first rather than forcing an immediate decision about the future. • TRUTH RESTORATION — For couples dealing with trickle truth, changing accounts, omissions, hidden contact, hidden information, or repeated discoveries who need greater truth, accountability, emotional safety, and stability before meaningful repair or deeper work can proceed. • STILL STUCK AFTER INFIDELITY — For couples who stayed together after betrayal but remain caught in mistrust, recurring questions, triggers, resentment, shame, defensiveness, withdrawal, emotional distance, or uncertainty despite time, previous therapy, or attempts at repair. The work looks at what remains unfinished and what repair would actually require. • MARRIAGE DECISION CLARITY — For couples at the brink of divorce, separation, or discernment who need greater clarity about whether to repair, separate, or commit to a focused period of couples work before making a more informed decision. I also work with individuals and couples whose professional responsibilities, visibility, demanding schedules, or sensitive personal circumstances make privacy and discretion especially important. This may include people in entertainment or professional sports, first responders, medical professionals, executives, self-employed professionals, and freelance professionals. My work is best suited to people who are willing, immediately or eventually, to face what is true, take responsibility where responsibility belongs, and become curious about what the crisis may be asking them to understand more deeply about themselves, their partner, and the relationship.

Are you feeling stressed? Do you wake up moody? Is your anger affecting your loved ones? Has your addiction isolated you? Is your relationship suffering? You can feel better and enjoy your life. Sometimes you just need a bit of guidance to find tools and techniques that help you. I shine a light on your toolbox so that you can find it and the right tools to take charge of your life.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in San Francisco, California, providing therapy for teens and adults experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) and relationship counseling. My approach integrates mindfulness and mind-body interventions, including breathwork and body-based practices, to support nervous system regulation and emotional processing. As an LCSW and certified yoga instructor, I help clients build effective coping strategies, increase self-awareness, and create lasting, meaningful change. Please feel free to contact me.

Are you beginning to think you have a problem with alcohol or other drugs? Are your friends and family members concerned? Have you experienced painful consequences due to drinking or drug use? You may be confused wondering which step to take next. Many people manage painful feelings by using drugs and alcohol; thinking about stopping can feel overwhelming. Others want to consider harm reduction before sobriety. Maybe you're in-recovery already and seeking a therapist knowledgeable about addictions. I'm a substance abuse specialist, as well as a licensed Marriage Family Therapist. I've worked with people struggling with alcohol and drug use and their friends and family members for over twenty-five years. It's painful to struggle with an addiction. It can cause isolation from loved ones, depression and anxiety. You need support to explore your thoughts and feelings in order to make informed decisions. I provide a safe, compassionate, non-judgemental space to help you explore what works best for you. I work interactively and collaboratively, I take into consideration the past as it effects the present. I tailor my work to your needs, together we'll explore your life at your pace. I believe each person has the capacity for growth and healing and I have respect and compassion for all the difficult places we find ourselves in.