Do you sense that you could be more, but you find yourself limited by negative thoughts andor overwhelming emotions? Or has your whole life seemed to have disintegrated into nothing recognizable, and you are struggling to make sense of it all? These are common symptoms of "butterfly-itis". The common stages of which are the "caterpillar stage" or the "chrysalis stage". Whether you are feeling stuck as a "caterpillar meant to be a butterfly" or feeling overwhelmed by the process of a "caterpillar becoming a butterfly", I provide a compassionate, collaborative, and supportive environment in which to heal, grow, and move on to live a fuller and more meaningful life. My four basic tenets as a therapist are as follows: 1. I need to approach each client with empathy, acceptance, compassion, and respect. 2. I believe that you have your own answers and healing within, so I have a client-centered approach to therapy. My primary role is to help facilitate your process of discovering those answers that will result in healing and growth for you. 3. I take an eclectic approach with regards to how I facilitate your process. I believe that each person comes with his or her own unique way of processing, and what works for one individual may not work for you. In addition, I feel that different therapeutic needs and stages require different approaches. 4. I believe our spirits need to be engaged in the therapeutic process. The journey towards healing and wholeness is not for the faint of heart. A spiritual path can be an additional source of support, insight, comfort, encouragement, and wisdom.

As a cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused therapist, my goal is to help children, teenagers and young adults unearth their real potential and lead lives that are more peaceful, enjoyable, and worth celebrating. Though we can't change troubling situations from the past, we can work collaboratively to better understand and resolve challenges in your own child's life or inside your family system. By utilizing complementary therapy techniques and approaches, we will uncover negative perceptions or behavior patterns that may be preventing your child or teen from experiencing a more meaningful and fulfilling life, as well as support a shift in behavioral and emotional expression that will enable the individual's positive nature and true strengths to thrive. I believe that everyone has the ability to change and improve, and I hope to take part in you or your family's positive journey toward empowerment, wellbeing, and growth.

I offer a warm, collaborative, and relational approach intended to foster personal growth and self understanding for individuals and couples of all cultures and sexual orientations. My therapeutic approach is based on principles of mindfulness and somatic awareness, primarily working with the client's present experience. I strive to help the client understand how their core beliefs and somatic holding patterns have shaped them, identify those which may not necessarily be serving them in the present, and build tools towards being able to influence their present life. My training has focused on experiential, mindful, and body-oriented therapy specifically using the Hakomi method and Formative Psychology. In addition, I integrate tenets of Feminist, Relational, and Humanistic orientations. My interest in cross-cultural therapy is rooted in my own bi-cultural living experience. My Spanish language skills are of native fluency, and I am available to work with clients both in English and in Spanish, as needed. My experience with issues of multi-culturalism and immigration, both personal and professional, informs my work. In addition, I have facilitated workshops on cross-cultural issues.

I provide both psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. I work with a wide range of issues ranging from depression, sadness, anxiety, grief, work-related difficulties, parenting related issues, and intimacy related concerns to more severe issues such as schizophrenia, personality disorders and trauma related symptoms. I also work with couples and have extensive training in working with adolescents. I work best with people interested in making significant changes in their inner lives and circumstances. In my practice, I provide you with a place to speak freely, so that through this singular experience of speaking you can articulate your desire and live your life according to your passions. As a Psychoanalyst, I see people in Lacanian Psychoanalysis. If you are interested in exploring the option of analysis, we can meet for a few preliminary sessions in order to establish whether this is a good fit for what you are looking for. For more information on Lacanian Psychoanalysis, please see my website.

I specialize in treating adolescents and young adults, and also work with many individual adults. Areas of focus include anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, low self-esteem, life transitions, phase of life challenges, skill building (coping, social, stress-management), emotion-regulation, building self-awareness, and communication strategies (assertiveness trainingboundaries). Often, part of my treatment with adolescents includes working with parents to find an effective balance between setting and reinforcing limits and maintaining a positive relationship with their child(ren). While my therapeutic approach varies depending on the specific needs and goals of each client, I utilize techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, and Rogerian Therapy. Most importantly, I believe that connection is a driving force for positive change. I value the unique "story" of each individual with whom I work and am passionate about empowering others to create quality, meaningful lives.

Perhaps your relationships, career, or creative pursuits are not going as you would like. Challenges around identity and sense of self may be plaguing you. You may feel bogged down by feeling frustrated, unmotivated, anxious, overwhelmed, guilty, ashamed, or sad. Whatever your struggles, together we can help you better understand what’s going on and what may be getting in the way of change. I take as a basic premise that you are more than a collection of symptoms or a problem to be fixed, and believe that all you bring to the table deserves our full attention and exploration. My approach is individualized and interactive, with a focus on long-term, sustainable change. I bring to my work substantive training, many years of practice, and patience, empathy, curiosity, humor, and reliability. I am dedicated to working with people of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and identities, and am well-versed, particularly in work with creatives, ex-pats, transcultural couples, adult children of immigrants and third culture kids, biracial men and women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, and non-binary individuals and their families. Areas of special interest to me include relationship difficulties, loneliness, identity issues, creative blocks, loss, struggles with self-compassion, and family estrangement. Self-knowledge is good medicine. Therapy takes courage, but can promote dramatic growth and help you attain a greater sense of well-being and a freer and more satisfying life. (For more information about my training, my philosophy, and how I can help, please visit my website.)

It may be hard to believe, but our most troubling habits and patterns began as strategies that once helped us deal with challenging or even dangerous circumstances. The difficulties that feel burdensome to you now—rumination, self-defeating behaviors, problematic relationship dynamics, stubborn emotional cycles—actually helped you survive in the past. And because they helped you survive, it takes more than just understanding and willpower to unravel them—it takes deeper work that engages the body as well as the mind. I work well with problem-solvers and high performers who are struggling with habits, patterns, or relationship issues that they can’t resolve on their own. I’m skilled at working with anxiety and traumaPTSDCPTSD, as well as life transitions, grief and loss, and LGBTQIA+ issues. I also have experience working with neurodivergent clients, like people with ADHD or who are HSPs, gifted, or autistic with low support needs. I’m an integrative therapist, so I weave together multiple modalities into an approach that can be tailored to your needs and goals. I take a holistic view, which means I attend to all aspects of your well-being, including mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness. I also look at your context, cultural background, and relationship with systemic power, all of which have tremendous bearing on your health. Your struggles may be distressing or exhausting, but they can make sense, and together we can find your way through them. I've been a trusted listener my entire life. Therapy can be a transformative experience, and helping folks make changes in their lives and tap into their healing potential is incredibly rewarding. My style is warm, conversational, and collaborative, and I’m here to support your growth and healing with active engagement, curiosity, and expertise. I bring a high level of integrity and conscientiousness to my work, as well as a bit of humor. I invite you to get in touch for a 20-minute free consultation to see if we might be a good fit!

You're often fighting or feeling distant from your romantic partner. Small issues can become a big deal and conflict remains unrepaired. Perhaps you've tried many strategies to stop these difficult dynamics. You feel frustrated and need to find new ways to connect, resolve, and find each other again. Maybe you notice after fighting, that distance between you feels lonely and doubts about the relationship start to increase. It's like the fights get out of control and one or both of you say things you regret later. Deep down, you know what's been happening isn't healthy, and that you both need help and perspective. It might feel far away right now, but you know you need to try something radically different if you're going to change the relationship that means so much to you both. I can help you develop new tools so you can finally feel reconnected and nourished instead of depleted and disconnected. Whether you begin therapy individually or together, change is possible. As your guide, I commit to supporting you in healing the past and building a strong foundation to support the well-being and happy future you seek. My approach is supportive of developing a connection to your inner self so that you can communicate from your heart. Practicing an attitude of curiosity and acceptance, my goal is to build trust with you and to understand your unique experience. When working together, I aim to help you feel respected and understood. I truly believe in the healing powers of self-discovery, self-acceptance and offering these to others in close relationship. I strive to help you cultivate nourishing relationships with yourself, others and connect more to the world around you.

I am an Oakland-based individual and couples therapist who believes that healing the brokenness of our world begins with reverence for the interconnectedness of all living beings. I am committed to supporting people’s process of re-membering themselves into the tapestry of their life path through psychodynamic and family systems-based therapeutic exploration. My therapeutic approach often draws those who feel that their connection to belonging and purpose has become frayed by cruel inner critics and a culture obsessed with hyper-productivity. For those who have been made to feel that their lovability depends on their usefulness and willingness to self-abandon, the cost of “belonging” can feel like an impossibly high price to pay. And yet, when the polish of a perfected persona is stripped away, it can create space for the gritty, seemingly unlovable parts of ourselves to reveal our authentic grace. When we find ourselves feeling isolated, choiceless, and disconnected from our fiery essence, it is a sure sign it’s time to turn inwards and tend to our flame. While it can feel terrifying to set down the masks we wear for protection and self-preservation, it opens the possibility of having a deep need finally met: to be seen and accepted in our entirety. Contacting our harm, our hurt, and our shadow is tough—often annihilating—work, but they are chapters of our stories that deserve just as much attention and care as our greatest victories. Honoring the divine connectedness of all living things includes bearing witness to the sacred thread that weaves together our darkness and our light. It is an opening—a provocative invitation to see yourself wholly, perfectly fractured, just as all living things are.

I help my clients to open to and connect with their own inner wisdom and self-love. I try to help them to become aware of the holes in their wholeness, and work with them to heal parts they have disowned or forgotten about-- to find their way back to the true, unique, strong self. I hold my clients in an atmosphere of warmth, acceptance, and respect for all of who they are-- culturally, sexually, physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually. I have a good sense of humor, and I think it's just as important to laugh in therapy as it is to cry or feel any other emotion. I embrace all kinds of diversity and I see all kinds of people in my practice. I'm a woman of color and I've lived in various places in the world in my former life as an ESL teacher (and native east coaster), so I bring a wide, deep and varied perspective to my work. Nature, mindfulness, practicality, imagination, creativity, and story are elements that I incorporate into therapy, as well as aspects of the usual suspects, such as Gestalt, object relations, psychodynamics, cognitive-behavioral, and transpersonal psychology.

I am very approachable, informal, careful with people's feelings and work well with those who are new or hesitant to come to psychotherapy because they are unaccustomed to the "culture" of psychotherapy, fearful of being judged or not "doing it right" (i.e. ethnic minority, working class background, new immigrant, men whose wives are "making them go" or alternative lifestyle). I work well with people who might feel that their problems will be too much to disclose, to handle, be resolved, feeling vulnerable/fragile. I am very patient and kind but I will not let you off the hook if I think you can do it. I do a kind of therapy that helps people understand and resolve deep seated long standing problems that get in the way of feeling good about yourself and feeling satisfied with your close relationships. For many years, I have worked with "high conflict" families (of divorce) and when I see people in conflicted relationships, I work hard to understand everyone's point of view (and their pain) and strive for everyone to feel heard and for people to be able to be as comfortable as possible in situations that are very uncomfortable and may appear unresolvable. I do not shy away from strong emotional states (i.e. anger, terror, trauma) and am highly trained to assist patients in going inward as deeply as they want and need to go. I also have a way of making people laugh in the midst of all this pain, hopefully without feeling that I am making light of their pain. Patients often tell me that I am funny (and sometimes they are too) and that I have a heart.

I believe that healing is a deeply personal process, and I strive to create a safe, compassionate space where you feel seen, heard, and understood. I draw on evidence-based approaches—including psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and strengths-based practices—to help you develop practical skills for managing challenges like anxiety, trauma, and stress. My focus is on empowering you to build resilience, foster personal growth, and strengthen your relationships, while honoring your unique experiences and goals. Together, we work toward meaningful change that feels achievable and sustainable.