People often ask how I became a therapist. My answer is usually personal: my own inner suffering and unresolved relational trauma—and the symptoms that came with it—led me to study psychology and begin my own therapy. Both experiences brought me profound relief, healing, and encouragement.

As I recovered my dignity, self-esteem, and sense of agency through therapy, I felt deeply compelled to dedicate my life to this work. I wanted to become someone people felt safe enough to speak honestly with, heal alongside, and grow with in meaningful ways.

I formally entered the field of psychology at 18 while attending Sonoma State University. In 2012, I earned my graduate degree in Counseling Psychology from University of San Francisco. Shortly afterward, I completed two intensive post-graduate training programs in individual and group psychotherapy at The Psychotherapy Institute in Berkeley, California. Today, I bring more than twenty years of combined education and clinical experience to my work in psychology and psychotherapy.

Throughout my career, I have held clinical positions in hospice care, hospitals, drug and alcohol treatment centers, foster care agencies, and community mental health clinics. These experiences have allowed me to work with a wide range of people and deepen my understanding of the many ways human beings struggle, adapt, heal, and transform.

Today, I maintain an online psychotherapy practice serving a diverse population of individuals, couples, families, and youth.

Outside of work, I most often find myself spending time with my family (including the non-humans), cooking, concocting herbal remedies, writing, practicing yoga, learning Spanish, dancing, and learning about a bunch of random stuff.

Credentials

Licensure

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT 90682

Academic Education

Graduate Education

University of San Francisco — San Francisco, CA
M.A. in Counseling Psychology: Marriage & Family Therapy
2010–2012

Undergraduate Education

San Francisco State University — San Francisco, CA
B.A. in Psychology
2006–2008

Sonoma State University — Rohnert Park, CA
Declared Major in Psychology
2004–2006

Post-Graduate Clinical Training

The Psychotherapy Institute — Berkeley, CA
2-Year Training Program in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
2014–2016

The Psychotherapy Institute — Berkeley, CA
1-Year Intensive Training Program in Psychodynamic Group Therapy
2017–2018

Somatica Institute — Remote Learning
1-Year Sex & Relationship Advanced Coaching Program
2023–2024

Trauma, Attachment & Couples Therapy Training

The Embody Lab — Online
60-Hour Somatic Attachment Therapy Certificate
2025

The Gottman Institute — Online
Level 2 Clinical Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy
2025

The Gottman Institute — Online
Level 1 Clinical Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy
2025

Somatica Institute — Online
Sex & Intimacy Couples Training
2024

At The Crossroads of Trauma Therapy
Integrating EMDR, Structural Dissociation, Attachment Repair & Parts Work
2022

International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy — San Diego, CA
EFT Externship: Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Training
2020

Myrna Martin Pre & Perinatal Education — Online
Pre & Perinatal Psychology Training
2019

PMADS Certification — Online
Postpartum Mood & Anxiety Disorders Training
2019

Somatic, Expressive & Integrative Healing Approaches

Institute for Health & Healing — San Francisco, CA
Certification in Expressive Arts Therapy & Guided Imagery
2012

Earth Activist Training with Starhawk — Online
Empowering Collaborative Groups
2021

Ancestral Medicine — Online
Animist Psychology
2020

Multidisciplinary Studies

National Autonomous University of Mexico (CEPE) — Mexico City, Mexico
Spanish Language Immersion Program
2024

Scottish School of Herbal Medicine — Scotland, UK
Herbal Apprenticeship
2021

Ancestral Apothecary: School of Herbal, Folk & Indigenous Medicine — Oakland, CA
1-Year Training in Folk Herbal Medicine
2020–2021

Ancestral Medicine — Remote Learning
Ancestral Lineage Healing Part 1 & 2
2020–2021

Cornerstone — California, USA
Postpartum Doula Training
2018

Yoga Tree — San Francisco, CA
200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training
2014

Ancestral Voice: Institute for Indigenous Lifeways — Novato, CA
1-Year Intensive for Remembering and Embodying Indigenous Ways of Living
2012–2013

 

 

 

 

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