Therapists in Occidental, CA

Experience compassion and open-heartedness in everyday life and freedom from patterns of the past. I see individuals, couples and families with issues of integrating trauma, communication/knowing your truth, healing sexuality/deep connection, infidelity, addiction and family concerns. I help clients find a fuller, more alive life, in partnership with the people and family, chosen or from birth, around them.

I now offer a limited number of sessions in person in my Novato office; most sessions are via telehealth. Either way, we will explore your issues via talk and somatic work. I will help you gain insight as to how your character style inhibits healthy coping. COVID isolation is a good time to do your inner work and liberate your true Self as you envision moving forward. Please call for a 1/2 hour consultation to discuss how I work and see if we are a good fit!

I enjoy working with individuals interested and committed to discovering their own inherent capacity to live a more embodied, present, and expressive life. I am passionate about helping those who are struggling with a major life transition or have experienced trauma/loss regain a sense of well-being and ease in their life and personal relationships. My approach to healing is fundamentally relational and holistic, drawing heavily on mindfulness-based, somatic, and creative expression techniques. I interweave neurophysiological, transpersonal, and attachment based frameworks that allow for both solution-focused and depth work.

I welcome whatever you bring and offer an open compassionate space to explore those parts of yourself wanting attention. Through focused inquiry, you will gain a deeper sense of understanding and acceptance.

Sometimes it's time to make a change and deepen our understanding of ourselves and others. Therapy can be quite helpful in this process through providing a safe, non-judgmental relationship from which to grow. I've been in private practice for over 20 years and I work with adults, couples, adolescents, and children from 5 years old and up. I would like you to know that you are not alone in this journey of growth and healing. I would like to come along side you as you improve and deepen your relationship with yourself and with others.

Please just call. I will help you feel comfortable, having done this work for over 40 years. I attend closely to my client's own described experience. Through my understanding of you, I help you understand /deal with your own core (existential) issues which cause suffering. My role is as facilitator/ spiritual midwife. The true catalysts for change arise from daily life. Ultimately a client learns to: know self more deeply, feel obstacles energetically, face conflicts consciously, and release any internal resistance blocking movement. Real growth must occur in integrated ways throughout body and mind.

Clients that I work with are looking to explore the difficult emotions that they are carrying & process events that they have experienced that are impacting their every day life. Stress, worries, & life satisfaction are often what bring clients to therapy however processing the needs not being met & how to shift our awareness to engage in life in a way forward are what I often support clients in working on. Processing trauma & past events can be a focus as this can help to change perspective, increase emotional vulnerability, explore relationships dynamics as well as increase the awareness that trauma has on the whole body.

I am a Certified Brainspotting Therapist. Brainspotting is a neuro-experiential therapeutic modality developed by David Grand to heal trauma. Trauma is any experience that overwhelms one's resources at the time and causes emotional, physical or psychological distress. The brain compartmentalizes traumas so that the individual can continue to function, but there is a price to pay for compartmentalization, i.e., unexpected reactivity, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and failed relationships. Brainspotting is like a doorway providing access to underlying issues so that they can be processed and integrated and parts retrieved.

So what is it that’s owning you right now? I am interested in what feels most alive at any given moment. I believe that the client has the answers to their own issues locked away inside them, and the job of the therapist is to help them to gain access to those answers. I believe in approaching the experience playfully and with a childlike sense of curiosity, and have found this attitude to achieve the greatest results. I also believe that the client has a right to feel all their feelings, even the ones that have previously been labelled 'bad', in order to help them develop a full spectrum of emotional intelligence.

Whether we know it or not, we are all on a hero’s journey. Learning who you are and how to live in alignment with your true self is one of life's greatest and most daunting adventures. Has your journey hit a detour or perhaps a fork-in-the-road? Often life’s most challenging passages offer us opportunities to feel more alive, present and connected. When feelings of sadness, uncertainty or fear become overwhelming, it might be a sign that you’ve lost track of your inner heroine – your true self. Coming back into relationship with yourself opens your life to new possibilities and hope.

I am a licensed therapist with over 25 years experience working with adults and couples. With advanced training, compassion, and kindness, I work with clients to help them identify the areas they are struggling and then provide structure, support, and intervention to make changes and find relief from discomfort, frustration, and suffering. I work with clients from a warm and empathic, non-judgmental approach.