About Me
Therapy takes courage and vulnerability. I commend you for taking this first step and I look forward to helping, however I may, on your journey.
About Me
I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY19925) with nearly 20 years of experience working with all ages from infancy to adulthood in settings ranging from mental health clinics and hospitals to schools and the private sector. I believe that therapy is best when it is a collaborative endeavor. Rest assured that I will be direct and transparent in my approach. Together we will develop a path forward to navigate your life and relationships in ways that are aligned with who you hope to be and how you want to show up in your life both personally and professionally.
Training
I earned a BA in Psychology from the University of California San Diego, a MA in School Psychology, and a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. While in graduate school, I realized that working directly with people was what I was most passionate about and changed the focus of my training to clinical psychology. I completed my pre-doctoral training at West Contra Costa Child, Adolescent, and Family Services working with highly resilient families and children that had endured multiple traumas.
My post doctoral training was completed at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) where I eventually became a member of the medical staff and lead clinical supervisor of CPMC’s Child Development Center’s psychology team. I provided individual and group therapy to children and families, and individuals. This included parent consultation for supporting children with complex emotional and developmental needs, therapy with parents struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after NICU stays, and outreach work with at-risk populations. I also trained interns, postdoctoral candidates, and multidisciplinary staff and was the clinical supervisor of the center’s social skills program for children on the Autism Spectrum.
During my time at CPMC, I completed advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and learned valuable concrete tools that promote change. I also realized that you can’t target behavior without addressing underlying emotions or the important relationships in people’s lives which led me to attachment work. I completed a three year post licensure training on Parent Child Psychotherapy as well as extensive training for Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples. Both of these theoretical models are research validated and focus on attachment and trauma repair. In other words, we will focus on making you and your relationships stronger in ways that have been proven to be effective and long lasting regardless of what your current and past struggles have been.
I have also trained in Emotional Efficacy Therapy (EET) which is a short-term therapeutic model that blends Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to help individuals learn to identify, regulate, and navigate their emotions in ways that align with their values and promote change outside of the therapy room. My varied training and extensive experience with different clinical populations allow me to individualize evidence based interventions to address the specific struggles of the individuals, couples, and families that I have the honor to work with.
I am committed to being a lifelong learner and am passionate about what I do. I love taking courses to stay abreast of the newest developments in psychology and mental health and try to contribute to the field by providing supervision and training to interns and postdocs, as well as consultation for early career clinicians.
On a personal note, I live in the Lamorinda area with my husband, three kids, and various pets. I love to take dance classes, am an avid reader, and have been known to mercilessly drag my family out on hikes. I very much look forward to our potential collaboration.