About
Release your burdens here.
I love meeting people who work hard to change their lives. It is inspiring!
If you are striving to break your family’s cycle or heal yourself from something damaging you went through, I want to meet you!
Cry with me, unburden yourself, and release what you have held back for far too long.
Painful feelings can provide us with information we need to move beyond our past if we listen.
Seeking the right help is essential.
You may need quality support to help you grasp the deep, transformative stuff. You deserve to have someone see you and be with you while you do such heavy lifting.
As we work together, I will notice what you already do well if you forget to pay attention to your strengths or what is going right.
I can challenge you to push further than you would go on your own. You will be surprised by the insights you gain and how breakthroughs can take your breath away. It is uplifting to recognize your patterns while acting them out so you can apologize and stop doing that the next time.
My goal is to help you make lasting change.
You might be so eager to believe you have already broken your pattern or resolved your past that you are shocked every time you fall back into old ways. That’s why you need someone in it with you, someone whose only job is to focus on what you are trying to change.
For example, if you keep dating the same kind of person but think you have found someone new and different this time, that is an excellent time to look for the ways you usually fool yourself and to consider that it simply isn’t possible to know how things will go this soon.
Significant shifts occur when you own up to insights deep inside. Then you never go back to how things were.
Real change, substantial change, changes everything.
With real change comes empowerment.
My clients feel empowered. They learn how to like themselves and receive love in their lives.
They find new careers or become exceptional parents. They are more like people they admire and experience the satisfaction of figuring their lives out.
About Me
Going for it helps dreams come true.
My journey taught me to keep dreaming and to risk going for it.
That dream started when I was a college student while volunteering at a battered women’s shelter. It felt safe there, like a home I never had. I decided then that I wanted to help people discover how happier family relationships could help them reach their potential.
After college, I worked with parents and teens to help them learn how to resolve their conflicts, finding answers for myself along the way that I didn’t even know I needed.
Then, I received a scholarship to return to school to get my doctorate, and I found out how much more I could do.
Advanced training supported my growth as a therapist.
I competitively matched at a top internship site at Harvard Medical School, where they told me that I was one of the best therapists they had ever trained.
After receiving my Ph.D., I became a professor, publishing research on attachment relationships while training therapists to treat trauma. The American Psychological Association appointed me to a task force that recently updated the guidelines for conducting therapy with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients.
These “claims to fame” resulted from the guidance of mentors, supervisors, and therapists who helped change my life’s trajectory. Now, I want to pass that wisdom along to you.
Creativity outside of work keeps me balanced.
Self-care makes me happy, so I meditate and hike in the woods most days, occasionally journaling or writing poetry.
Going out with friends to hear live music and dance, see an intense movie, or talk about an award-winning book we all read are fun things I like to do.
I am always learning something new, like how to cook super healthy food that is tasty; how to fix up an old, neglected mountain house; and how to develop the business side of my practice.
I am a member of the LGBTQ+ and Tibetan Buddhist communities and have lived in most regions of the United States.