If there was one thing you wish people knew about the therapy experience who might be hesitant to try it, what would that be?
Is that it doesn’t have to be a punishment or something you are forced to do. It can be of great benefit and healing power to many of us. I also use a validating and strengths-based approach often which provides each client a way to feel just a little bit better before they came to session.
In what ways have your personal experiences influenced your work with your clients?
What I have been through in my personal life, directly influences the way I choose to practice and how I am able to be genuine to each one of my clients. Additionally, with my lived experiences I can often connect and understand what a client has been through without them needing to talk in very specific details, being validated and truly understood in this work is very conducive to the healing process.
Are there any recurring themes or issues you’ve noticed as you treat people in your area of specialization, and how has this insight guided your approach?
Yes, the theme I see a lot is that parents do not notice that the way they were responded to as a child directly relates to the way the get triggered or respond to their own child. Parenting magnifies are own experiences and may bring up things we aren’t realizing at the time.
Specialties
Adoption & foster care
Adoption and foster care considerations include education on the process, integrating the new family, establishing household rules and boundaries, processing past trauma on behalf of the child, emotional health, and other adjustment procedures.
Attachment issues
Children that experience parents and/or guardians that are avoidant, ambivalent, or resistant from an early age, may develop attachment issues. This can manifest as difficulty forming or maintaining friendships, romantic relationships and empathetic bonds throughout life, as well as other issues.
Family issues
Familial relationships can be the source of stress and emotional pain, even in the healthiest of situations. Painful interactions can range from irritation to resentment and lead to feelings of guilt, disappointment, and anger.
Step-family/Blended Family Issues
Step-family or blended family issues issues may include overcoming loss from a previous family situation, establishing a familial bond, setting boundaries, enforcing new rules, adjusting to relocation, learning to communicate in healthy fashion, finances, and household roles.
Trauma
Trauma is the result of experiencing a perceived, extremely distressful event. Although the stress threshold for each person differs, meaning that each person considers and experiences trauma differently, it is an event that tops one’s threshold. It exceeds one’s ability to cope or emotionally process. Symptoms may include shock, anxiety, confusion, hopelessness, feeling disconnected, mood swings, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts.
General Expertise
Depression
Depression often causes people to feel sad, empty, or hopeless, and can cause a lack of interest in life. It can also affect a person's thinking patterns and physical health.
Anxiety
Anxiety can mean nervousness, worry, or self-doubt. Anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder that entails excessive, repeated bouts of worry, anxiety, and/or fear.
Relationship Issues
Refers relationship issues with a partner or spouse. Can include issues related to relationship distress, relationship satisfaction, communication, intimacy, etc.
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is the degree to which a person feels confident, valuable, and worthy of respect. Feeling low self-esteem can influence overall well-being and be linked to anxiety and/or depression.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by persistent instability in relationships, extreme emotional reactions, and chronic fear of abandonment. People with this may also tend to be moody, experiencing a lot of high highs and low lows.
Fees
$200
First Session
$175
Family Therapy
$150
Individual Therapy
Types of Therapy
Family Session
Couples Session
Individual Session
Clientele
Parents
Young Adults (18-24)
Adults (25-65)
Children (5-12)
Adolescents (13-17)
Treatment Approaches / Modalities
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Mindfulness Practices
Strength Based Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
Attachment-Based Therapy
Coaching
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Family Systems Therapy
Internal Family Systems Therapy
Motivational Interviewing
Narrative Therapy
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
Person-Centered Therapy
Positive Psychology
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Structural Family Therapy
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Training / Certifications
EMDR Certification
Licensure
CA, LCSW, 102000
Education
MSW, Master's of Social Work, University of Southern California (USC) Ed.M., Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Work History
For the last ten years I have specialized in working with families that have had disconnected attachment histories. Additional, families in the midst of divorce, issues around difference in parenting style and expectations, and of most abundant the foster care and adoption population.
Location
1800 Bridgegate St, 108, Westlake Village, 91361, CA