I was born and raised in Northern California, and, despite loving the Bay Area, have always wanted to expand my worldview and experience a different culture and country. I was able to make that dream a reality through my recent move to Amsterdam with my family (and dog!), and understand the complicated feelings that come with such a huge transition.

I get how easy it is for difficult emotions and tricky relationship issues to emerge, or reappear, while living in a place far away from one's former country, family, and friends, which is why I love working with the expat community.

Educational background and experience:

I received my B.A. from California State University Chico, and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. From 2010-2012, I completed 3,000 hours of clinical work with children, individuals and couples, supervised by various master clinicians, in addition to passing three licensing exams, to obtain my MFT (Marriage and Family Therapy) license in the state of California.

I have worked with a diverse range of clients on issues including anxiety, depression, phobias, work performance, disordered eating, addiction, family estrangement, sex and intimacy, conflict resolution, and separation and divorce.
Although I adopt various techniques to meet each client where they are, I draw on past training in CBT, DBT, mindfulness, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and family systems. I have also completed an EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) externship with a certification from ICEEFT.

Although skill and experience are important to the therapeutic relationship, the most important factor in treatment is the good relationship between therapist and client. Open mindedness, humor, sharp insightfulness, and empathy are a few characteristics former clients have used to describe some traits of mine that have been helpful. But meeting in person is the best way to find out whether a therapist like myself will work for you. I'm happy to meet in person in my office in Amsterdam or online.

Affiliations:

- MFT licensed in California: MFT 88190
- CAMFT (California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists)
- ICEEFT
- PINC (Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California)