Sometimes we need extra help when facing particularly painful, overwhelming, or puzzling situations. By setting aside a dedicated time and place in which to bring your full attention (and mine) to the task of sorting out what pains or blocks you, you give yourself the best opportunity to craft the life you wish to live. In the company of a skilled practitioner, the process of therapy can help you work through old patterns and address the challenges at hand. You can experience a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and peace in your life and in your relationships.

I provide warm, accepting, and engaged psychotherapy. As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Berkeley, I work with individuals, teens, young adults, couples, and families who are seeking to improve the quality of their relationships and lives. Whether you are working to ease the symptoms of depression or anxiety, healing from grief and loss issues, resolving trauma, or seeking deeper a relationship with yourself and others, I can help you move forward.

Are old relationship patterns, experiences of trauma and neglect, or stuck ways of thinking interfering with your ability to step more fully into your life? Therapy can and should go beyond achieving a reduction in distress. In my work I aspire to facilitate development of a deeper connection with inner strength, vision, passion and conviction while addressing your issues of concern.

I feel honored to work with people who are deeply examining the relationship they have to themselves and to the world. The therapy I offer is an exploration of what blocks aliveness and an awake, open, compassionate heart. If you are at a point in your life where you need some help navigating through a particular quality of being or a habit adversely affecting you or people in your life, I can help. Working together we can restore your functioning and bring it to a higher level allowing you to creatively respond to your life rather than react.

As I see it, the primary role of a counselor is to serve as a mirror to help reveal what the client hasn't yet been able to see-especially those patterns of relating to self, others, and the environment that might be causing suffering. At the same time, the counselor is there to reflect, affirm, and strengthen the client's unique gifts and talents.One of the biggest impediments to healing, growth, and creativity is shame. To help clients move through this debilitating emotion, I use a combination of mindfulness, body awareness, and other healing modalities.

Could you use some support? Feeling stuck? Confused? I love this work and it is an honor to work in this way. I specialize in working with women who are experiencing transitions in their lives, grief, anxiety, codependency, and alcoholic family systems. I have degrees from CIIS and UCLA. Together, clients and I work to find relief, understanding, and emotional wellbeing.

Reaching out is not always easy and it's the first step to creating change. I have always believed we work to achieve success and happiness in the best ways we know how. There are times in our lives where we find ourselves unable to find solutions, move forward or times when you simply want to understand. This is where I can be of help. I encourage everyone to talk with several therapists to get a feel if this is the right person for you.

Everyone has an innate ability to enjoy a life balanced with love, work and play. When personal issues and uncomfortable feelings block this ability, we need to grow and heal. My calm, gentle nature and use of humor helps people explore and resolve these blocks. Humor is important for relaxing with light-hearted laughter and making shifts in one’s life are intertwined. I’ve helped numerous couples repair broken relationships, heal hurts and resentments, while reestablishing meaningful communication. A sense of safety, relief, and a softening of the heart occurs as each partner feels heard and understood. Blaming stops and problem solving begins.

Perfectionism, procrastination, social withdrawal, and oppositional behaviors can be a common part of child development in today's culture of hyper-achievement combined with technology. Child and adolescent behaviors viewed as problematic are frequently communications to those closest to them about a difficulty they are experiencing in their world. I work with children and with families who are struggling to understand their child's academic, behavioral, and emotional struggles.

I became a therapist because I have a passion for working with people in meaningful ways. I have a big heart, and am warm and welcoming. I have a genuine interest and caring in helping people's lives be better in all ways --- emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I am fully present and available to deeply listen to your innermost process. I am empathetic, compassionate, understanding and non-judgmental. I believe that no one is broken, that everyone can heal, and I would feel honored to be a part of your healing journey.

I am a holistic psychotherapist and will work to help you integrate mind, body and spirit. I believe we all have the propensity for health and wellness. Together we can work with your acute crisis or your desire to explore a deeper connection to self. Helping individuals (children, teens, adults), couples and families throughout the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay area....I look forward to meeting you, working with you and assisting you in achieving better mental health.

I look forward to meeting each new client and getting to know him or her. I know with our busy lives we all have a number of stressors and conflicts. Sometime our usual ways of dealing with these no longer work. My goal is to help you find effective ways to deal with these stressors, so that you can complete therapy feeling happier, more in charge of your life, and can reach that place deep inside where each of us is our very best self.

Welcome, and congratulations on taking the first step toward creating change. Seeking a therapist can feel like a big deal, so it's important to find one who is a good match. I am here to help you, by creating a warm and collaborative therapeutic environment that honors each client's unique intuitive wisdom. I offer a non-pathologizing and empowering understanding of human issues, assuming each person has the capacity to transform, both within themselves, and in their relationships with others.

Asking for help can be a monumental decision that requires a lot of courage. Finding the right therapist can be an equally difficult task. A therapeutic relationship needs to feel safe and collaborative, as it can serve as a foundation for healing. My goal is to assist you in accessing your internal strengths, exploring obstacles and working to overcome your challenges. Understanding what style or type of therapy you need can feel confusing. I will work with you to create a plan for treatment that is aligned with your needs and personality.

Psychotherapy is an art and science providing individuals with an opportunity to heal and grow. In a confidential and caring environment I support individuals to face painful aspects of their lives, access their inner resources, and begin taking new and healthy steps into their futures. It is natural and necessary to grow and change throughout life. Individuals are called by life circumstances, relationships with others, or by an internal restlessness to relinquish old ways and to develop new abilities. In our work together, clients and I identify steps toward creating the future they want to live.

Life is complicated. It's full of twists and turns and sometimes we lose our way. My passion is to support you along this path and honor your courage to start a process of self-discovery. I can assist you in emerging from a life perspective where you feel stuck into an understanding of your choices that will help you heal, have more fulfilling relationships. A good therapist can help! My life experiences have taught me a lesson: that it's hard to be human and as such, my clients will always deserve all my empathy and attention.

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We all have an inner wisdom and interior life that can inform and transform how we hold and participate in the wonder of our lives. I view psychotherapy as a threshold for those seeking a deeper connection to their own experience. Exploring how these mysterious inner resources manifest in the external environment can make it possible to view our lives from a new vantage point. I support individuals to feel more alive, awake and whole in each moment regardless of their circumstances.

Being a person in long term recovery, 28+ years, I understand this search might feel challenging. Sober by the Bay provides a compassionate and empathetic approach to drug & alcohol counseling, incorporating the many underlining issues that increase our desire/need to self medicate. I like to ask, in the words of Dr. Gabor Mate’, ‘why the pain, not why the addiction?” We know that addiction is often the way we manage pain that feels unmanageable. A coping skill if you will. The pain and ‘dis-ease’, and dis-comfort could stem from an underlining mental health disorder, unresolved feelings related to grief and loss and often trauma