Therapists in Santa Cruz, CA

Hello and welcome! You have taken the first step toward becoming a better version of yourself. It's not easy to reach out for help, yet here you are. I'm glad you landed here. I am ready to listen with an open heart and mind to help guide you on your journey. I offer tools that we can practice in the office together, and ones that you can take with you to help you navigate in the world.

"Stuck." At some point in our lives, we all feel it. I help people link their desire for things to be different to the places they feel stuck, healthfully and effectively. You don't need to know how to change, we start with where you are. I like the Chinese proverb, "Acceptance and change are brothers, but acceptance is the older brother." By helping you learn to first accept where you are (even if now it seems impossible), suffering is naturally reduced and there is more energy and room for growth. You get to like yourself now AND change.

Once you have a place where you feel seen, heard and held without judgment, you naturally begin to heal. Allow me to be that place for you. I love supporting people with anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, life transitions, and issues around self-worth and self-esteem. Too many of us are suffering in isolation, with complex challenges and big feelings that we were never meant to carry on our own. Bring me your grief, your sadness, your anxiety and your overwhelm. Bring me your wounded parts, and let's hold them close, together. Your soul is ready to heal.

I specialize in working online with couples and family relationships. I've just published a book, That Loving Feeling: A Couples Guide to Transform Hurt & Criticism into Kindness & Gratitude. You can order on Amazon or your local independent book store. It's a fictional story of couples who are caught habits of hurt and defensiveness. Through attending a workshop in Nonviolent Communication, they treat themselves with more kindness. They learn to speak up for their needs in a way that is elicits generosity from their partner. The things that used to bother them dissolve. This story draws from my own marriage and also my clients.

Therapy is an opportunity to explore and make better sense of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions and how you may be affected by these components in different parts of your life in a safe non-judgmental space. It is a chance to uncover more about yourself, the patterns that you may have, and how your past may impact how you interact with situations, events, and others. Therapy also can be a time to heal and explore new ways of thinking and being. My approach to therapy is collaborative. I’ll encourage active engagement to help uncover your strengths and resiliencies.

I have worked as a marriage and family therapist in California since 2012. I help with dual diagnosis treatment, grief and loss, infertility issues, life adjustments, and perinatal and postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. I am a certified eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapist and perinatal mental health professional.

Thank you for taking time to stop by! Your time is valuable, so I'll be brief. My approach is collaborative and client centered with compassion, empathy, and now and again some humor. I am an EMDRIA Certified EMDR therapist and use EMDR as my primary approach for trauma, depression, anxiety and grief. I realize your situation is unique so I offer collaboration toward reaching your therapy goals. **At this time I am not accepting new clients using insurance.

Embarking on the journey of psychotherapy is a courageous and empowering act. My intention is to assist you in recognizing, respecting, and building on your strengths, and improving your capacity for self regulation. Through this partnership, I will assist you in bringing unconscious faulty core beliefs to the light of mindful awareness, engaging your wisdom and compassion. I will work with you collaboratively to address and navigate through your pain, your perceived limitations and stuck places, which are your growing edges. This demanding and enlivening work can improve your quality of life, and expand your capacity for joy and happiness.

I believe the brain constantly seeks healing and balance. In my experience, no matter what happens to a person, the deepest parts of oneself hold wisdom and strengths. Once we accept, appreciate, and access more of what’s inside of us, we can grow into the life we want and into our unique selves. I work from a client-centered, culturally competent, and strengths-based perspective. I meet you where you are; we identify your needs, perspectives, wisdom, and strengths, and collaborate on the goals you set for therapy. I provide a non-judgmental therapeutic space

My specialty is supporting humans on their path of healing and awakening. I offer a safe space to explore all parts of yourself so you can uncover deeper meaning and access inner peace. I work in the realms of intimacy/sex/relationships, managing stress and anxiety, personal growth and transformation, holistic wellness (mind/body/spirit) and integrating expanded states of consciousness (spiritual, psychedelic). My clients are often free-thinkers, seekers, passionate and sensitive souls, trying to find balance. I work with individuals and couples in creating more balanced and fulfilling lives.

I work primarily with couples and individuals toward creating better communication and developing coping strategies to help with stress.

Welcome! May I walk beside you as you continue to uncover, untangle, embody and enliven your life's purpose? I seek to be witness and ally to your own personal life's journey. C.G. Jung states, "Every advance; even the smallest, along the path of conscious realization adds that much to the world".

Do you have life relationship challenges and and can’t seem to figure out a solution? Or do you feel overwhelmed in your life? I will help you to discover the solutions in your internal world and in so doing the everyday world you live in changes also. I use cognitive behavioral skills, communication skills, active and reflective listening Skills. I believe you can work to find solutions to your issues.

You are already whole, and I believe the process of psychotherapy is to shed the self limiting beliefs we hold of ourselves that keep us fractured and compartmentalized. The process of integrating our disavowed parts creates the space for our wholeness to emerge. We make meaning through our experiences, but shame and trauma can distort our way of relating to ourselves and the world. Through the therapeutic container of safety one can begin to deconstruct the strategies adopted along the way to keep one feeling “safe” and “in control”, while also in many ways, keeping one from meeting the world with an open and curious heart.

We are social beings that thrive on connection and a sense of belonging. I believe therapy is the most effective when we feel truly seen; that we matter. Seeking support can feel daunting and it takes courage to reach out and ask for help. Thank you for stopping here to learn more about me. I support individuals and couples in accessing their own innate wisdom and healing potential. My style is humanistic and transpersonal. I find that the deepest, most impactful changes take place when we address issues holistically, by engaging the mind, body, and spirit in the therapeutic process. A bit of well-timed humor can also go a long way.

Life can be overwhelming. It can feel like you’re slowly sinking into an ocean of worries and despair. You just want to catch your breath. It can keep you awake at night, or make you not want to get out of bed. I’m here to provide a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship so you can find relief from your struggles.

Hello! First, let me tell you a bit about myself: I have over 20 years experience in the field of mental health, both in community agencies and privately. I have focused on immigration and families most of my career and currently specialize in treating individual adults. I enjoy meeting you, wherever you are at in your life, with respect and caring. I am authentic and accepting, and provide a safe, confidential space for you to explore your past and what you want for your present and future. In therapy with me, you can turn emotional pain or stress into something lighter, and progress on a path toward greater happiness and health.

I am currently offering in-person and online individual and group sessions using expressive arts, mindfulness, biofeedback and neurofeedback techniques to decrease isolation and increase creative expression. Artistic expression may be done through an online collage program or with any materials you would like to use. This may include drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, music, movement, writing, photography, role play or any combination of these. The focus is on the creative process as a tool for transformation and manifestation, rather than on the quality of the product.

The most important person in the therapy session is you. The most mysterious person in the therapy session is you. And the most powerful insight will eventually come from you. You may feel stuck, angry, lonely, confused, hopeless or numb. Maybe you feel too much? Perhaps you're losing hours on tik tok or porn sites? you dissociate, sleep too much; can't sleep. It's okay to reach out. Everyone wants connection, everyone needs connection. Therapy can help you find ways to connect.