Services
- Individual
- Family
- Child
- Adolescent/Teen
About My Clients
Your culture, history, challenges and experiences are unique to you. You, your child or family may have experienced a recent trauma, are continuing to heal from past trauma, or are experiencing symptoms such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, suicidal ideations, self-harming behaviors, or other mood challenges. Perhaps you are a family who has experienced adoption and/or foster-care, and needs support in addressing the unique issues connected to these experiences.
My Background and Approach
It is deeply important that you find a therapist who is not just a good personality fit, but also able to support you in reaching your goals. Though therapy can be hard and at times emotionally painful, I believe it should also be an enjoyable experience and even fun, especially for children. Therefore I partner extensively with my clients to develop an individualized treatment plan that incorporates their interests, strengths, culture and resources, using interventions they find most effective and helpful. I particularly enjoy bringing expressive arts, experiential activities and movement into the therapy process. I have over 15 years experience working with children, adolescents, families and individuals from diverse backgrounds, with over 10 of those years working with youth in foster-care, and experiencing adoption. I am trained in EMDR therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy, am trained in adoption competency, and am informed in using Internal Family Systems.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
I am a self-identified cis-female living among the Coastal Redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I strongly value and believe in supporting one's connection to the natural world. I strongly believe that therapy should be safe, accessible and affordable to people of all backgrounds, cultures, abilities, faiths, gender identity and orientation. I am a volunteer with the Humanitarian Assistance Program's Trauma Recovery Network which offers free EMDR therapy to people who have experienced a recent trauma. I also offer a sliding scale fee and maintain a trauma-informed office setting and practice. I recognize the history of trauma, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and racism within the mental health field and believe it is my responsibility as a White person to advocate for inclusion and anti-racism. I accept responsibility for errors and oversights that I may make to people of other backgrounds and for ongoing reflection and learning to address these issues as they arise.