I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, in practice as a psychotherapist for twenty three years. I graduated from the New York University Silver School of Social Work.
My first private practice was in Sherman Oaks, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. There I worked with adults, couples, and older teens. During these years of my practice, I learned from serving clients facing a wide variety of clinical issues. As the years passed, I slowly discovered the areas of grief, loss, and life transition that have become the focus of my current practice.
From 2007 to 2011, I taught as a part-time faculty member in the Graduate School of Social Work at California State University at Northridge. In this role, I offered mentoring and professional development guidance for brand new social workers.
I relocated to Portland in 2012 and opened my practice here in late 2013.
I have been fortunate to create a vibrant and trusted group of highly talented colleagues throughout my career. My consultations with them continuously inform my practice and provide mutual growth and support. My own work in psychotherapy and various personal growth/community programs also informs my understanding of the growth and healing processes we humans face.
I trained with the Growth and Transition Workshops in Tucson AZ, learning about the work and expressive grief interventions of death and dying expert Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.
I continually seek to understand and incorporate my knowledge of brain function, neuroplasticity, and the nervous system into my work with clients. I learn from the interventions offered from sensorimotor psychotherapy, polyvagaI theory, and other somatic therapies. My goal is to help my clients understand how their emotions, brains, and nervous systems interact. As often as I can, I help my clients learn ways to grow more grounded, aware, and competent with their emotional and bodily experiences.
In an effort to raise emotionally healthy and well-behaved kids, I studied with the late Portland author, JoAnne Nordling and her work, Taking Charge: Caring Discipline That Works. For several years, I taught parenting classes and offered parent coaching in Portland through the Parent Support Center PDX.