You've likely arrived here looking for some help. Maybe we will end up working together, or maybe we won't, but either way I would love to be a part of helping you find what you're looking for.
Send a message
I've been a therapist working in Orange County for over a decade. I have spent my career working with individuals, couples, and teens. My clients experience me as warm and empathetic, attuned and insightful, and gentle while still being challenging.
I also provide consultation to other therapists, as well as lead trainings for people, groups, and organizations that are seeking deeper clinical understanding and ability. If you are looking for more information on those services, please click the links below.
Some (but not all) of the clients that I work with:
Our early experiences are incredibly formative to our lives, and when those experiences and relationships have been painful they can often leave marks on us that follow us into the present. Working through the pain and impact of those experiences helps us see the strategies we adapted to survive, along with how sometimes those same strategies can keep us stuck in painful patterns.
Pain can be located in lots of different areas of life, but sometimes it is most felt in our relationships with others. Sometimes even though we desperately want to be close to someone we fear that they might leave us, and we might act in ways we regret when we get scared. Maybe a part of us wants to be close, but another part feels overwhelmed and suffocated by that same closeness once we get it. Some of us will say to ourselves that we have never felt close to anyone, or can't think of anyone that hasn't betrayed us. These (and more) are the kinds of relational patterns that can be worked through in therapy.
Faith and spirituality are a powerful element of human life. Just like anything that is so core to our self and identity, it can be a source of suffering and distress. That can be the experience of distance and silence in a relationship that you believe should feel close, questions that feel frightening or shameful, or changes that seem to be happening within yourself. Of course, we also know that people in places of authority and communities can also hurt us, leading to feelings of rejection, self-loathing, exclusion, shame, confusion, isolation, and more.
Many people that I work with have tried therapy before. They have had these thoughts, feelings, and experiences for most of their lives. Other therapies they've tried may have felt like they only addressed surface-level issues and never really got to where they really wanted to go. I work from a depth perspective and am not interested in shallow quick fixes. I want to get into the places that, while uncomfortable, also hold more hope of freedom and lasting change.
I spend most of my hours in the week sitting across from another person and working to help them understand what they're experiencing, how it impacts their lives, and what they might need to do or experience to find freedom. I find it a great honor and privilege to be in these sacred spaces, whether they be spaces of light or darkness. I work from a theoretical and technical posture of believing in the power of our pasts, our relationships, and our humanity (psychodynamic, attachment, and relational), while also valuing the reality that we are embodied, and so our experiences also impact and are carried in our bodies (trauma-informed).
Reaching out can be a small act of courage and the beginning of a healing journey. If you have questions or you're ready to begin, I'd love to hear from you.
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person
