About me

I am a compassionate, energetic, and dedicated Licensed Clinical Social Worker who brings warmth, humor, curiosity, and a straightforward approach to the therapeutic relationship. My journey in social work began at the University at Buffalo, where I graduated in 2008. Since then, I have had the privilege of working with people from many different backgrounds and helping them navigate some of life's most difficult experiences.

I work with both individuals and couples, and I recognize that people come to therapy for many different reasons. Sometimes you're dealing with something that happened years ago. Sometimes a relationship is struggling. Sometimes you're feeling overwhelmed, angry, disconnected, stuck, or simply know that something needs to change. Whatever brings you in, my goal is to create a space where we can be honest about what's happening and work together toward meaningful change.

I began my career working with youth involved in the Juvenile Justice System and their families, and later supported adults experiencing substance use. In 2010, I joined the Veterans Administration, where I worked with Veterans experiencing homelessness. These experiences taught me a great deal about resilience and reinforced my belief that people are capable of meaningful change, even after experiencing significant adversity.

For the past fourteen years, I have focused my career on clinical practice and the oversight of an outpatient Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) clinic in San Jose, California. Trauma has become a particular area of specialization and passion for me. I have worked with people who have experienced military trauma, childhood trauma, relationship trauma, loss, violence, betrayal, and other experiences that can fundamentally change the way a person sees themselves and the world around them.

I also understand that not everyone comes to therapy thinking, “I need to heal.” Sometimes the reason is much simpler: something isn't working anymore.

Maybe you're angry more often than you want to be. Maybe your relationship is struggling. Maybe anxiety or stress is affecting your work, sleep, or ability to enjoy your life. Maybe you've spent years handling everything on your own and have reached a point where that approach isn't working anymore. Or maybe you know something needs to change but aren't quite sure what.

For couples, therapy can be a place to slow things down and understand what is happening underneath the arguments, distance, resentment, or disconnection. Whether you're dealing with communication problems, recurring conflict, trust issues, intimacy, the impact of past experiences, or simply feeling like you've lost your way as a couple, I work to help partners better understand each other, communicate more effectively, and build a relationship that feels healthier and more connected.

You don't have to have the right words for it, and you don't have to come into therapy already knowing how to be vulnerable. You just have to be willing to start a conversation.

My approach is collaborative, practical, and grounded in genuine human connection. I won't expect you to sit on a couch and talk about your feelings for an hour without purpose. Therapy should have a reason behind it, and we should be able to talk honestly about what is and isn't working. At the same time, I believe that meaningful change requires more than simply managing symptoms. Together, we can look at the patterns, experiences, beliefs, and coping strategies that have helped you get this far—and determine which ones are still serving you.

I believe therapy should be a place where you can be yourself without having to perform, impress, minimize what you're going through, or pretend that everything is fine. That may mean talking about things that are difficult or uncomfortable. It may mean looking at anger, relationships, identity, confidence, trauma, grief, fear, or parts of yourself that you've learned to keep out of sight. And sometimes it means laughing at the absurdity of being human along the way.

My approach is also grounded in compassion, curiosity, and a commitment to anti-racist and decolonizing practice. I recognize that traditional mental health systems have often been shaped by Western, Eurocentric ideas about what it means to be “healthy,” “normal,” or “well.” I don't believe there is one right way to heal or one version of what a healthy person should look like.

Your culture, identity, background, values, relationships, community, and lived experience all matter. So does your understanding of what you want your life to look like. I work collaboratively with clients rather than trying to fit them into a predetermined model.

An anti-racist practice also means being willing to examine the ways racism, privilege, oppression, and systemic inequities can affect mental health, relationships, families, bodies, and access to safety and opportunity. I approach this work with humility, openness, and a willingness to continually examine my own assumptions and biases.

I have received extensive training in evidence-based approaches to trauma and PTSD, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I am also Level 2 trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS/“parts work”). I am an EMDR International Association-approved provider and consultant, and I have completed the coursework for the Perinatal Mental Health Certificate through Postpartum Support International as well as training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). I am licensed in California, South Carolina, and Nevada, with Florida pending approval.

At the heart of my work is a simple belief: you are more than what has happened to you.

Trauma, difficult experiences, mistakes, symptoms, and the ways you've learned to survive do not have to determine the rest of your life. My job is not to tell you who you should be. It is to help you understand yourself more clearly, make sense of what you've been through, develop more effective ways of dealing with life, and move toward the kind of relationships, work, and life that actually feel meaningful to you.

I also don't believe therapy has to be cold, overly clinical, or overly serious. I bring warmth, energy, authenticity, and a healthy sense of humor into the room. Therapy can be challenging without being miserable. You can do serious work and still laugh. You can talk about difficult things without being treated like you're broken.

Whether you're someone who has never considered therapy before, a person who has tried it and didn't find it useful, a couple trying to find your way back to each other, or you simply know that something needs to change, you are welcome here.

You don't have to have everything figured out before you walk through the door. We can start where you are, figure out what's getting in the way, and take it from there.