About
Let’s get personal.
I want to get to know you. From our first conversation, to our first meeting, and every meeting after that, my main priority is to forge a strong alliance and meet you exactly where you are. We’ll get to know the pain you’ve been carrying and the work you want to do, and from now on, you won’t have to assume that load alone anymore.
Our brains are our biggest frenemy, as they keep us alive (that’s important), but they are also (what I like to call) really “old software”. We’ll identify its faulty processes that limit and sabotage what you want. These flawed processes are why people stay stuck when doing this critical work alone; it’s not their fault because our brains are extremely good at keeping us exactly where we are. If the answers were easy, you’d have found it already.
At each meeting, I will ask you frequently if I hear and understand you correctly. After the first 1-3 meetings, I will present you with the plan we’ll be following in our work together, and you will learn what it’s like to spend an honest hour looking at yourself and your life in close detail. This is interactive, collaborative, and real work you’ll be invited to do with a real genuine person, in a completely safe space.
We’ll get to know you, including how you make sense of yourself, the people in your life, and the future ahead of you in ways you have never known. And we’ll also identify in what ways you can respond and act differently to enable you to make real, lasting change. There will be some troubleshooting along the way, but we also will celebrate all your successes as we see the changes you always wanted.
The basis of success is connection.
Time and time again, the best outcomes come from the best connections we build.
I will invite and encourage you to bring your authentic self to every meeting. Being authentic means you can laugh, cry (it’s encouraged), curse (if and when you break that barrier first), or show up in your PJs.
We’ll be real people together because that’s the best and most effective way to get this sh!# done.
About Me
Here’s my so-called chronological life.
I was born in Modesto, CA, and have lived in different parts of the Bay Area since high school; I don’t have a favorite… yet. My parents raised me with two older brothers, which my own therapists over the years heard plenty about.
I graduated from George Lucas’ high school (humble nerd brag) and then moved away to Santa Cruz, living proudly as an undergrad banana slug after that. I’ve always known I wanted to dedicate my life to helping people.
After college, I became a professional helper – starting as a volunteer crisis responder, then working as a special education teacher, and eventually getting into graduate school for counseling psychology in 2010. I proudly put that “L” for licensed in my title in 2015 and have been operating as your friendly neighborhood licensed marriage and family therapist ever since.
I wouldn’t be myself without real, real-life experiences.
I have hated myself and failed. I have succeeded, counting paddling out and surfing on a longboard among the most fun accomplishments.
My life has been full of ups and downs, including sustaining a concussions, having surgeries, a broken arm, later tattooed. I have held people at their lowest and seen people finally learn to love themselves. I have lost someone dear to suicide.
After having my heart broken, I found family and love again. Some relationships in my life were great, and some were abusive and toxic. Eventually, I learned that my lifelong interest with the same sex is not weird, it’s queer. And I have lived life as neurodivergent with pride.
I am a single parent to a little human and a little dog. I love being in company with myself, and have a passion for humanity.
Here is where to find info about my professional credentials.
You can find the details on my LinkedIn profile; some of my credentials stuff hang in my home office behind me.
Join me for a meeting, and you can check them out.