My Background

I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY 27570) in California and live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I spent my graduate school days in Gainesville at the University of Florida and finished my training in the VA system in Chicago and San Francisco. After my fellowship in health psychology, I worked with at-risk veterans in hospitals, their homes and SROs (even parks and boats!) on an interdisciplinary team at the VA in San Francisco (our team was highlighted in this book). Then, after about 5 years, I started to feel the call to work with and serve with immigrants as a way to connect with my own values; I was hired at the public hospital in my county - the San Mateo Medical Center. To better connect with and serve a mostly Spanish-speaking population, I learned biofeedback - an intervention that speaks the universal language of stress recovery - as well as how to deliver therapy in Spanish. I am now choosing to turn towards full-time private practice with the intention of embracing a slower, more mindful lifestyle, pursuing new professional projects and honing my therapeutic craft.

I feel so deeply satisfied and grateful to work with others as a psychologist whether I am mentoring other professionals or working with patients directly. I treasure therapeutic relationships as well as the trust my patients give me. I’ve also found over the years that taking my own personal work seriously keeps the therapy I deliver fresh ~ being in my own therapy has been part of this journey as has a long-standing meditative practice, learning how to regulate my own stress-related physiology, regularly consuming psychological research, publishing clinically-relevant journal articles and generally staying current with new innovations within my field.

My Therapeutic Approach

I offer evidence-based therapies, biofeedback (please see my biofeedback page to learn more) and mindfulness-based interventions for adults over 25. I am happy to offer in-person appointments in Redwood City, California, remote sessions or a mix.

As a health psychologist and board-certified biofeedback therapist, I have advanced training in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (including Cognitive Processing Therapy & Prolonged Exposure Therapy), Attachment Repair with Hypnosis, Exposure & Response Prevention, Biofeedback, Medical Hypnosis and Mindfulness-Based Therapies. Additionally, my own mindfulness practice - which includes daily(ish) meditation, yearly silent retreats, personal mentoring from several meditation teachers, reading and courses through my local meditation center - profoundly informs my approach to the reduction of suffering in my patients.

I am a therapist that emphasizes action, curiosity and change; clients that work well with me tend to be open to being challenged and interested in challenging themselves and building new skills. They may already have the motivation and compassionate desire to suffer less, but don’t feel they have the insight into the core of their suffering or the appropriate remedies. Also, people who work well with me to tend to have a deep appreciation for data & science as well as developing mindfulness.

Ultimately, my goal in improving stress-related problems is to help my patients live lives that hue more closely to deeply held values and get in contact with an unconditional worthiness. Having that intangible ‘good fit’ in therapy is one of the most important ingredients - this blog post might give you a flavor of my working with me.