ABOUT ME
In my practice I help people who want to experience more peace of mind but who feel stuck. As a therapist with thirteen years of clinical practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, I help my clients move through difficulties, build confidence and self compassion, and find greater happiness. I enjoy my work. I am passionate about providing high-quality therapy. I have been a part of transformative relationships with my clients and have seen the positive impact of our time together. I know therapy works and I am grateful to my clients for their courage and vulnerability.
I am outgoing and warm. I like to laugh, and use humor in therapy when it feels appropriate. People often say I’m extroverted. I think I’m actually more of an extroverted introvert; I also don’t fully believe in this binary.
I like connecting with people and learning about what motivates them.
My clients tell me I make them feel comfortable and at ease.
I am queer and have worked extensively in the LGBTQ community. I have expertise in helping people who are dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, hoarding issues, work/life stress, and diverse issues in aging. I also hold advanced training and specialize in body focused repetitive disorders (BFRBs), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I am a published author, public speaker, consultant, and a national trainer with the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging.
In terms of my personal story, I was born in New York, to New Yorker parents, but my family transplanted us to the hills of Northern California when I was a kid. I still say “orange” more like “are-enge;” .. So sue me!
I grew up connected to the natural world. My favorite tree is the black oak. I talk my houseplants and go to wild places whenever I can.
Aside from my professional interests psychology and mental health, I am also keenly interested in art, politics, social and cultural change. I am a family caregiver, an artist, a fledgling woodworker, and a handyma’am of sorts.
In 2008, after several years in the private and non-profit sector, I went back to school to pursue my Master's at the University of California at Berkeley. My graduate work focused on gerontology and mental health. Before private practice, I worked for several years as a program manager and clinical supervisor in a fast-growing San Francisco agency serving LGBTQ older adults. I bring a personal understanding of the difficulties of finding work/life balance to my work as a therapist. I also have extensive experience working with clients who have formally “retired,” and who are seeking further purpose and connection.
I identify as queer, and as a trans-inclusive (trans loving!) feminist. I am not nuerotypical but I often “pass” as such. I am LGBTQ-affirming, sex-positive, age-positive, anti-racist, and I love my immigrant family and community.
At times I've identified with being a "type-A" personality. Because of my own struggles with perfectionism, I have learned strategies for quieting my own “inner critic.” I share these techniques in therapy when my clients are interested.
These days I do a lot of reading on neuropsychology, and in particular, research on "nueroplasticity," including the ability of talk therapy to change our brains to align with our goals—How our brains, through practicing new behaviors and learning, can be rewired for less anxiety and better habits. I find our minds fascinating and scholarship in this area informs my practice. I have witnessed the human mind as friend and foe. I love to learn and share techniques that can help us make peace with our amazing (and sometimes seriously irksome) minds.
I have lived through loss. Death has been a major part of my life since childhood. My experience with grief and loss informs my work as a therapist and my interest in how we heal in the face of tragedy. I have seen how sharing our losses and witnessing each other's grief can connect us to our common humanity, and serve as a catalyst for transformation.
I have done work on boundaries. I do not have to light myself on fire to keep others warm! I bring my experience creating and exercising boundaries into the therapy room, and I enjoy working with folks who want to be more assertive. I facilitated a popular workshop called “Creating Limits for Ourselves and Others." I share this curriculum with clients when they are interested.
I am trained in transcendental meditation (TM) and I have found this practice to be helpful in my ability to focus, retain information, and to my overall sense of wellbeing. As a meditation practitioner, I also bring other mindfulness-based stress reduction and exercises into therapy when its a good fit for my client.
To some meaningful degree, I bring myself to therapy, but the focus of my work is always on my client. As such, I seek to respect and honor your life experience, your values and goals.
Interested in a phone consultation? Give me a call or send me a message. I will do my best to get back to you within three working days.
To learn more about my approach to therapy, please click on MY APPROACH.
License
Licensed Clinical Social Worker #76642 California Board of Behavioral Sciences
Degrees
Master’s of Social Welfare (MSW) University of California, Berkeley (2010)
Bachelor’s of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR (2003)
Select Continuing Education and Training:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Anxiety Disorders, Evidence-Based Practice Institute
Clinical Practices to Cultivate and Foster Human Happiness, Resiliency and Post-Traumatic Growth, Tobi Abramson, PhD and Pamela Braverman Schmidtt, MEd
Ending the Insomnia Struggle, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, Evidence-Based Practice Institute
Psychotherapy With LGBT Older Adults: Using Research to Guide Best Practices, Jill Gover PhD and Daniel Parker, PhD
Beyond Research and Medicine: Working With LGBT 50+ HIV Survivors, Jose Albino, MA, Monte Ephraim, LCSW-C and Daniel Parker, PhD
Working with Anxiety, Ron Siegel, PsyD, National Institute for Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM)
Practical Brain-Focused Strategies for Working With Depression, Elisha Goldstein, PhD, National Institute for Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM)
Aging and Mental Health, National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
Advanced Motivational Interview Certificate, Felton Institute
Dialectical Behavioral Training, Beginning and Intermediate Courses, Felton Institute
Transcendental Meditation Practitioner, San Francisco Transcendental Meditation Center
Clinical Training Cohort, New Leaf Services for Our Community (Year-long Psychoanalytic/ Psychodynamic-based training program with New Leaf Clinical training cohort)
Select Training and Supervision Provided
Openhouse Services for Our Community, on-site supervision and training for MSW staff, on-site and clinical supervision and program management for ASW, AMFT and PsyD trainees (2011-2017)
Queer Life Space, Clinical Trainees cohort, Clinical Work with LGBTQ older adults (2014-2017)
CIIS, Clinical Trainees, Clinical Work with LGBTQ community Training (2016)
University of California, San Francisco: Optimizing Aging Collaborative (2017)
Stanford University, Queer Health Course presenter (2014, 2015)
UCSF Medical School, Annual Health Symposium (2015)
SF General Hospital, Openhouse LGBT Cultural Humility Training, Clinical Staff and Trainees (2016)
San Francisco LGBT Center Staff, Cultural Competency Training (2014)
Institute on Aging, In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Staff Training (2013)
Certified National Trainer with the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging
Professional Affiliations
Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)
San Francisco Bay Area Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (SF-Bay ACBS)
American Society on Aging, Mental Health and Aging (MHAN)
Gaylesta: The Psychotherapist Directory for Gender and Sexual Diversity
Certified National Trainer with the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging
Social Justice Psychotherapist Network
Bay Area Open Minds: San Francisco Bay Area psychotherapists and psychotherapy students who affirm that sexual and gender diversity are natural expressions of the human experience (BAOM)
Good Therapy Verified
San Francisco Small Business Development Association