About Me

My love and appreciation for learning have taken me down the dual paths of psychology and education. I have earned two doctoral degrees: one in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) from California Southern University and one in Education (Ph.D.) from University of Southern California.

In my practice, I am keenly interested in mental health challenges that are often caused by trauma and stress: these include PTSD, Acute Stress, Adjustment Disorders, Anxiety, Depression, Dissociative Disorders, and OCD.

My compassion for human beings who have resorted to coping with their traumas through substance use led me to seek further training in the relationship between trauma and substance use. I am a graduate of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s program in Peer Support and Self-Help Recovery, which incorporates the effective use of the 12-step programs in support of individual psychotherapy.

My Approach to Psychotherapy

My approach to psychotherapy is psycho-education-oriented, empowering you to understand the roots and causes of your psychological challenges. Working with me, psycho-education goes together with your psychotherapy. The more you understand your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that cause you distress, the more likely you will be able to manage and move forward and become “unstuck.” In my experience, one of the reasons my clients have become “stuck” is that they may feel lost as to where they are in life, where they stand in their relationships, or confused as to where to go from here. My goal and my hope are to help and support you as you increase your ability to manage and solve the problems you are facing.

Sometimes clients come to therapy with their goals already formulated and seek help exploring how they can achieve them. Other times they are not certain where they want to go in life and therefore are seeking help with formulating their goals and mapping out how to achieve them. In either case, my approach to therapy and counseling is collaboration and joint exploration.

When clients experience anxiety and depression, therapy often involves untangling the web of past events and processing traumas that impede progress. I am educated and skilled in treating complex traumas through the trauma processing techniques of EMDR, TF-CBT, and IFS. Trauma processing is an effective way of becoming “unstuck” for my female clients who have experienced violence and aggression.

Many clients come to therapy seeking resolution of specific problems they are facing. In these cases, I use Solution-Focused Therapy and Brief Psychotherapy techniques, which are the most effective and expedient for these situations.