AEDP Therapists in Benicia, CA

Are you facing difficult challenges in your life? In your relationships, your work, or life in general? Trying your best but tired of struggling with the pain and frustration on your own? Do you find yourself thinking it shouldn't be this hard? Longing for the freedom and joy to simply be yourself and live the life you were meant to live?

Our earliest experiences of life form the foundation for the rest of our life. I work with adults struggling to heal old wounds and reduce anxiety and conflict in their lives. Whether you're finding your own childhood experiences being triggered by your child's or partner's behavior today; a working parent attempting to balance competing needs of your workplace, partner, or child; feeling overwhelmed by life transitions (ie. divorce, loss of a loved one, new job, etc), suffering from perinatal anxiety or depression, or someone who has experienced a trauma or distressing memory and wants to be free of its grip, I welcome you.

Welcome! Do sadness, worry, anger, and/or shame consume you? Is a sense of dread stopping you from making some difficult decisions? What about your sense of connection, happiness, and fulfillment? I know how frustrating and exhausting this is. How and when will this change? First of all, you have made the healthy and brave choice of looking for help. Accept that you are not fundamentally flawed or a finished product. Commit to developing and putting into action the changes that will provide you the safety and security we all crave. Individual sessions are 50 minutes and couples/family sessions are 80 minutes.

With deep listening, together we will collaborate to identify your unique therapy goals. Coming into connection with distressing symptoms, making meaning of parts of yourself and your life brings forward opportunity for growth and transformation. Individual adult clients and adolescent clients, couples and families are all welcome.

I believe in the healing force within each person and its natural inclination to arc towards wholeness and health. If we want it enough, have patience, clarity and support we can heal and feel freedom in life. Growth happens best in relationship and I am here to support you on your path, wherever that might be. I am anchored in Jungian psychology, Existentialism and AEDP/Somatic work. More importantly, I try to cultivate a sense of warmth, care, respect and curiosity in my work with clients. I work with clients experiencing: anxiety, depression, grief, relationship/family issues, PTSD, self-criticism and lack of meaning.

I specialize in providing therapy for individuals and couples who wish to make positive and lasting changes in their lives and relationships, grow and develop, for themselves and those they love. Human beings thrive when they feel genuinely loved; therefore, the most important thing I can offer you is a safe, compassionate and supportive space that allows each person to feel heard and validated. Do you feel more and more distant from your partner each time you continue to argue about the same old things without any change? In our sessions, you can expect to defuse the conflicts as we begin to understand what drives them.

For nearly 20 years I have worked with teens and adults in a variety of settings to help them navigate challenges in their lives and build more meaningful relationships. I work from an integrative approach using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with a focus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Relational Psychodynamic Therapy, and Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP). Likewise, I am trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and related somatic-based interventions.

Maybe you are stuck in patterns that do not serve you. Maybe experiences and relationships that should give you pleasure leave you wanting. Or find yourself ruminating about the past or worrying about the future rather than living expansively, now. While many people can identify "the problem": alcohol and drugs; the death of a loved one; the end of a marriage, etc. Sometimes our inability to live fully confuses us. Together we can look at what is getting in the way. As a guide and companion I can help you heal past wounds and open to the joy and possibilities your life has to offer.

I offer psychotherapy to individuals and couples who reside in California or Oregon. I offer clinical supervision to associates residing and working in the state of California. As a psychotherapist, I am flexible and tailor my approach to the need of each client. I have been trained in many modalities that offer various benefits, depending on your needs and preferences (EMDR, AEDP, Sensorimotor, Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic, Somatic). As a clinical supervisor, I supervise from a primarily psychodynamic orientation. My practice is anti oppression and trauma informed.

I am the developer of the Transformative Couples Therapy (formerly called AEDP for Couples). I teach and supervise this method nationally and internationally. This method is distinct from other approaches in that we do not focus on finding what is wrong with the relationship, but rather we uncover the felt experience of love that has become buried over time. This method is unique in that the couple members speak directly to each other from the first moments of the first session and with the skillful structure the therapist provides. They discover how to create experiences of loving and being loved that they have been missing.

Using a warm, open, non-judgmental and direct approach, I support my clients in connecting with their feelings (not just thoughts), and from there, what will be healing and right for them, in all aspects of their lives. I specialize in adults and couples (all sexual orientations; all types of relationships). My goal for you is not only to reap the benefits of feeling better because your depression has lifted or your anxiety has quelled, but to connect with yourself in such a way that you feel empowered to live the life you choose.

Do you feel disconnected, dissatisfied, or disheartened in your life or in your relationships? Find relief from isolation and suffering. Restore connection and intimacy in your relationships. Learn to communicate wisely. Strengthen your sense of self. Build resiliency. Bring awareness into everyday living, and turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Our practice is multi-cultural and diverse and reflects values of inclusiveness and respect toward all humans. You are welcome here! Together, we blend compassion and a dash of humor to catalyze and embody the positive transformations you are looking for.

Whether you're feeling the pain of a loss, are locked in the grip of depression, or are worried that an important relationship is in trouble, I would like to offer my help. Life presents many challenges and no doubt you've been able to respond well to most of them, but when stress overwhelms your ability to cope effectively, you can find relief, empowerment, and clarity with the help of a therapist, who not only deeply listens but actively helps you to explore, understand, and find tools to address the true nature of your distress.

Hello, you are here because something in your life does not feel right, there is something in the way, blocking you from living the life you want. Let's work together to help you feel connected and whole. You are someone looking to improve your relationships and heal from the past. Through a supportive connection in therapy you will tune into your inner experience, leading to lasting growth and change. I believe the therapeutic relationship is valuable and an integral part of successful therapy. My areas of interest are relationships, life transitions, anxiety, grief & loss, trauma, prenatal/postpartum support & personal growth.

Everyone can have a meaningful life filled with well-being. I am a catalyst for individuals in creating lives of authenticity, wellbeing and meaning. By supporting you in feeling more connected to yourself, we will work together to create an increased sense of wellbeing and satisfaction with life, relationships and work. Through deep connection to your internal process, we will together cultivate ways to open channels that bypass self-limiting behaviors so you can function more effortlessly. Purposefully engaging with yourself and others with intention and clarity, fully integrating all the parts of who you are.

Therapy is an opportunity to address problems we want to change, gain insights into our concerns, and develop new ways of being. My approach to therapy is best described as integrative with a strong grounding in psychodynamic, relational, and multicultural principles. I draw on cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy to co-construct effective strategies for everyday life beyond the therapy room. I strive to provide clients a safe space to increase awareness, make meaning of the experience, and begin to cope and overcome life's difficulties. I provide individual and couple's therapy. I speak Mandarin and English.

My typical clients suffer from shame and perfectionism, preventing living fulfilling lives. When stuck in shame, people may question if they're “good enough” in multiple areas of their lives, which creates a cycle of shame that is difficult to get out of alone. I specialize in areas of insecure attachment, attachment/family trauma, CPTSD, grief and loss, sex and gender, obsession/rumination, and anxiety. I am trained in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) and am certified in EMDR.

I take a systemic, whole-person in-context view to my work. My approach is not one-size-fits-all, rather, we build our plan of care together. Your input on how we work together and where we go with that work is a huge part of the process. I openly acknowledge the inherent power dynamic in the therapeutic relationship, and work to shift that into true relational work - we work as a team. I strive to help you discover your innate capacity to heal, to grow, and am explicit about the methods I use in session to help bring about this capacity. Consent and open dialogue are essential to our work together.

Look at birds: they make great sky circles of their freedom. How do they learn to do that? They fall, and in falling, they are given wings. -Rumi ...In the course of being human, we all face losses and traumas of different degrees and in the process, find ourselves abandoning parts of ourselves in order to survive emotionally and interpersonally. Therapy is about reclaiming those parts and finding our way home to who we truly are.