Empathic,
Mindful,
Intuitive, &
Creative Therapy
MA, LMFT, ATR-P
Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, #131585
Registered Art Therapist, Provisional, #20-019
she/her/hers
About Me
After graduating from Loyola Marymount University's Marriage Family Therapy and Art Therapy Master Program, I've been blessed to work with a large variety of clients, in an array of different mental health treatment facilities, including: a plethora of teenagers and their families in Residential (RTC), Partial Hospitalization (PHP), and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) at Destinations for Teens in Topanga Canyon/Malibu; adult and senior clients at Mission Community Hospital’s outpatient psychiatric clinic; and, while at Aviva Child and Family Services in Hollywood Hills, I worked with adolescent girls who’d been legally placed in Residential (RTC) by the court system. I've also worked with many clients who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community (a few who discovered this truth while in therapy). And, in private practice, I've had extensive opportunities to support young adults in their 20s, 30s, and 40s navigate struggles related to: dating/marriage, career, socializing, body image, eating, fertility, personal identity separate from family, friends, culture, etc... as well as couples experiencing conflict, and survivors of intense trauma & sexual abuse of a variety of ages, up to and into their early 70s.
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I have also trained with elite members of the therapeutic community, such as UCLA's Family and Couples Therapy Program Director Dr. Veronica Barenstein, PhD who worked directly with Salvador Minuchin (developer of Structural Family Therapy), Dr. Pat Allen, PhD, ATR who pioneered the “Open Studio” art therapy technique, and Dr. Kristen Zaleski, PhD, LCSW, a trauma expert (sexual & domestic violence), author, human rights activists, graduate professor at USC, Clinical Director of the Mental Health Collective in Newport Beach, and creator of the Human Rights Clinic at USC Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work.
And, if you STILL want to know more... before I became a psychotherapist, I attended the University of Texas at Austin and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I studied in the Advanced Studio Art Painting Program. I have also worked in art, high fashion, design, and interior decor in NYC, the Hamptons, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
But, to be honest, part of what makes me especially passionate about what I do is because of my lived experiences with my own mental health and the expansive, deepening, grounding, healing impact therapy has had on me throughout the course of my life. Though I've also had short-lived not-so-great therapy experiences, too, which I'm now grateful for because they've given me some helpful insight into what not to do as a clinician, haha!
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Also, from my lived experiences, I believe in the healing power of art, nature, mindfulness practices, spirituality, having a safe space to be vulnerable, better-understanding familial/societal/cultural impacts, and digging deep into subconscious material (through dreams, archetypal stories, art, examining unconscious patterns, etc) ...but I also know that just because something has worked for me, doesn't mean it's right for everyone else.
