Even as a young child, I was fascinated by the performing arts and psychology
In ninth grade, I announced that I wanted to be a psychologist for actors. Then I became an actor. Now, many years later, I have returned to my desire to be a psychologist for individuals who come from an array of backgrounds, cultures and professions. Based in Los Angeles, one of the world’s epicenters for creativity and the arts, I also practice psychotherapy in the cosmopolitan mountain destination, Aspen, Colorado.
I believe everyone has a wound and everyone has a gift, something within each of us that waits to be shared. One of the great challenges in sharing this gift is to discover a language that expresses our uniqueness and originality, a language that gives us a sense of being at home in the world.
Being an embracer of life, I am an artist of possibility. I bring a lot of experience into our process: work and love, family and change, artistry and science, spirituality and discovery.
I received a BA, double major, in psychology and theater from the University of Minnesota. I then began my professional career in the drama division of The Juilliard School, following which I pursued a multi-faceted acting career in New York City, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. I was also a social worker in both New York and Minneapolis, overseeing the support and placement of Vietnamese refugee children in New York, and as a caseworker and theater teacher for adult artists with mental and physical disabilities in Minneapolis. I returned to psychology full-time when I undertook graduate studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute near Santa Barbara, receiving an MA/PhD in Depth Psychology in 2014. While working on my dissertation research, for a time, I served as a program director with the Santa Barbara Healing Sanctuary integrating ancient Greek healing modalities, expressive arts, dreams and depth psychology.
Today, my particular focus is in trauma, transitions, resilience, and performance. My interest in trauma was solidified in 2015 after a weeklong intensive led by Bessel van der Kolk. Knowing that our “bodies keep the score,” I have completed advanced training in Parnell Institute Attachment-Focused EMDR, along with multiple certifications: Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy with Embody Lab, David Kessler’s Grief Educator, and CBT for Insomnia. Along with a private practice in psychology, I continue to develop my interest at the intersections of psychology, the arts, nature, and the body by exploring new applications of what I call, Embodied Theater Ecology, the integrative methodology I designed through my doctoral research.