Professionally:

I'm currently a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#85639) through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. I began my journey into this profession in 2001 while working at Uplift Family Services (formerly EMQ Children & Family Services) and then started at Corbett Group Homes, Inc in 2011. Over these years, I have learned from experience and academia about how people change, as well as how problems manifest themselves in the lives of well-intentioned individuals. My clinical experience ranges from children to middle aged adults, yet I particularly enjoy working with teenagers and young adults as they strive to adapt to the natural transition from childhood to adulthood.  I have also provided counseling for couples and families, which I have also found to be rewarding. Since 2001, I have worked with a diverse group of various cultural backgrounds gender identities within residential, school and clinical settings.

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Prior to gaining my work experience in this field, I discovered that I enjoy being an ally and supportive figure for anyone who's embarking on their gender journey. I am trained and experienced in providing therapy to individuals who don not identify with the sex they were designated at birth. I am also trained and happy to provide evaluations and the accompanying letter of readiness for medical treatment as part of an individual's decision to transition to their authentic self. Lastly, I provide advocacy to the gender diverse community by providing training for professionals. In the future, I hope to provide support groups for folks who identify as transgender.

 

Therapy Style:

I utilize a systems model of therapy guided by Multi-Generational Family Therapy (Bowenian) with a Narrative Therapy approach to help clients learn ways to be successful by taking ownership and power about the changes they can make, rather than frustratingly wait for their environment to adjust to them. While I use an eclectic background of various theories such as Bowenian, Narrative, Existential, Gestalt, and Humanistic; my core focus is on helping clients be their authentic selves as they envision. In therapy, this primarily involves helping individuals acknowledge their authentic emotions. I find that this often leads to learning how to better manage emotions in the short-term, which then may decrease instances of depression, anxiety, and interpersonal conflict in the long-term.

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Personally:

Aside from my professional identity, I'd like to share that I am a philosopher at heart. My journey into my profession only solidified that which I had realized in my childhood to be my desire to understand the universe as well as the vast complexity of the human experience. This serves me well in my sessions as I have a tendency to ask questions that most people have not considered asking. I always find it amazing what is uncovered in the process, and attribute the thought-provoking questions to my client's willingness to trust the clinical relationship. In addition, I am fascinated by science, nature, and art. I find poetry, often in the form of music, as well as film to be very helpful at reflecting to us that which it means to be human. I'm also an athlete who has learned the value of how a healthy body contributes to a healthy mind.