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In order for us to be able to work together effectively, you need to feel that I understand who you are and what you want to achieve in therapy. I would like to take an opportunity to tell you a little bit more about myself and hopefully help you decide whether I am a good match for you.


People often seek therapy in response to difficulty dealing with something in their lives or some type of emotional pain. My goal is to help people, from young children to grandparents, reconnect with their own inner resources to overcome whatever it may be that is holding them back and preventing them from meeting their full potential. 

Education

I grew up in the South Bay and attended High School at both Mira Costa and Chadwick. I went on to Major in Psychology at Princeton University and obtain my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from USC. 

My undergraduate Senior Thesis focused on the importance of understanding the world from other people’s perspectives. Two people can stand next to each other and watch the same event unfold, but each person’s individual experience of and reactions to that event will be completely unique. My desire to understand the experiences of others continued into my graduate education, where my Master’s Thesis Project focused on the high prevalence of urban youth’s exposure to community violence and the negative repercussions of living in a chronically violent neighborhood. My desire to understand the personal experience of others has shaped every aspect of my practice and I consider it essential to helping people create lasting change. 


clinical experience and philosophy

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFC 49375). My clinical training began at the South Bay Child Guidance Clinic in Torrance, where I provided therapy to children, adolescents and their families. In addition to maintaining a private practice in Hermosa Beach, I currently work at a large agency called Kedren, where I provide school based psychotherapy in Compton and South Los Angeles. My experiences have allowed me to work with children, adults, parents, grandparents, great great great grandparents, and entire families. 

I employ a number of different techniques and theories in my practice, but all derive from three fundamental principles. 

    Nothing is universal. Just because something works for you doesn’t mean it will work for anyone else. Even commonly         
    known feelings such as sadness or happiness are experienced differently by different people. Every client I work with will 
    have his/her own unique experience of therapy.
    
    You are the expert on you. I believe people already possess everything they need to be successful and happy.         
    Occasionally obstacles, whether they are externally imposed or exist within an individual person, can impede our progress. I 
    strive to help you identify and capitalize on your innate skills to overcome these obstacles.

    The mind and the body are both essential to happiness and success. I practice yoga on a regular basis, have been a 
    competitive athlete my entire life and continue to work as a Los Angeles County Lifeguard. Through these experiences I 
    have learned that poor unification of the mind/body connection leads to destruction of one or the other. Both parts contain 
    immense intelligence and insight and true healing cannot occur by neglecting either one.