While being trained as a marriage, family, and child counselor, I completed my masters in counseling psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA. My diverse training and background in marriage and family counseling, body-oriented psychotherapy, alternative health practices, and spiritual counseling effectively combine to offer individuals, couples, and families the individualized care and direction they need while navigating the complexity of life within themselves as well as in their worlds.
With 30 years of practice in the mindbody modalities, my therapeutic approach integrates the more traditional psychological modalities - psychodynamics, object relations, family systems, group therapy, humanistic, self-psychololgy, cognitive-behavioral, etc. - with the non-traditional methods of Hakomi, Sensory Awareness, Gestalt, mindfulness meditation, and various other body-oriented psychotherapies. I use experiential techniques such as guided imagery, meditation, breath and body awareness and work with dreams and expressive art. I have a specialization in body - mind psychotherapy that utilizes mindfulness based methods of self-discovery. My work helps people develop a greater willingness to be present with themselves so that their choices are more authentic and healthy.
My personal philosophy is that every person has the capacity to learn how to be in the world in a way that brings them satisfaction, joy, and a sense of well-being. Because those qualities are subjective and unique to each person, I help my clients clarify and identify their desires and goals and develop the inner resources that will help them create the lives they want. Creating the life you want starts with being with yourself in the present and working towards who you want to become. Part of the that process is learning to work with the various aspects of yourself and your life that are contributing to your dissatisfaction. I see therapeutic counseling as a path of healing and unfolding. True to the body - mind method of "Hakomi" that I utilize, therapy is "assisted self study" for the purpose of transformation.
My own healing path took me outside the bounds of traditional medicine and into the alternative therapies that were often based in body mind holism, eastern philosophies and Native American practices. They fueled in me a passion for the exploration of spirituality and mind / body modalities of healing. Spending 20 years in the San Francisco area, I was able to immerse myself in an extraordinary blend of traditional and alternative training and education. My background includes 15 years of working in the healing arts as a massage therapist and holistic health counselor and a 40 year practice of yoga and meditation - a devoted path of developing awareness, presence and loving kindness. It was through my own journey and the experiences of my clients that I learned how interconnected our bodies, minds, emotions, and spirits are.
My therapeutic style is warm, engaging, and respectful of the client. I create an environment of support within the session that encourages a trusting and collaborative relationship and allows my clients to see the strengths they already have, as well as develop new aspects of self that will help them achieve their goals in therapy and life. I emphasize the relationship that the client(s) and therapist have as a unique alliance through which we work together to bring about constructive change. This partnership helps clients grow and gain insights that they may not be able to achieve alone.