About

A Little About Me

Growing up, I always wished for a fairy godmother (yes, like in Cinderella), who could come guide me through life. Without knowing what a therapist was, I wanted someone who I could talk to and who could help me figure things out.

Fast forward to my senior year of high school…

Many things were happening in my life at that time. I’ll spare you the details, but I was in a rebellious phase of my life. On a positive note, I took my first psychology class and became fascinated.

Also, around this time, I started seeing my first therapist. The comfort and healing I found through the work I did with my therapist had me hooked. I knew that I wanted to spend my life helping others.

This led to me getting my bachelor’s in psychology; then a master’s in counseling psychology.

I’ve worked in a variety of settings, including outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential programs, with children, adolescents, and adults. Through these experiences, I have been particularly drawn to helping people heal from trauma.

In working with a variety of different clients, I came to realize that the things people are currently struggling with are often linked back to experiencing some form of trauma in their life. Whether it is anxiety, depression, panic attacks, substance use, an eating disorder, or any other compulsive behavior, I often find that at the root is a life-altering experience that they’ve had.

Talk therapy just wasn’t enough. I became passionate about finding truly effective ways at helping people heal from trauma.

This led me to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Through this modality, I have been able to witness true healing from past trauma, leading to long-term recovery from things like major depression, anxiety, substance use, eating disorders, mood dysregulation, and other symptoms.

In the quest to seek more knowledge and skills to further my expertise in using EMDR with a variety of clients, I have trained in using EMDR with addictive/compulsive behaviors, complex trauma and dissociative disorders, children, and teens and tweens, and attachment trauma.

After some years of practicing EMDR, I began to realize that some clients needed something more, which led me to add to my skillset as a trauma therapist by becoming a Somatic Experiencing® practitioner. Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-oriented approach that assists clients in releasing trauma as it is held in the nervous system. SE then led me to another modality, NeuroAffective Touch®, which uses intentional mindful touch to gently heal attachment-related traumas.

Often times with clients, I was finding that they had difficulty with modalities such as EMDR or SE. What I came to find is that they had parts of themselves that were blocking access to the traumatic memories that were needing to be processed. This led me to studying Internal Family Systems, where we learn how to work with all parts of us in order to get permission to access the parts of us needing healing.

I consider myself to be a lifelong learner. Since this field is constantly evolving as more research comes out, I am always reading and seeking out the most current techniques to ensure I am best serving my clients.

When I’m not practicing therapy, I enjoy spending time with my family, cooking and eating delicious nourishing foods, playing with my pets, and being outdoors.

Exercise is a huge part of my life. Currently, I’m a competitive powerlifter. In the past, I’ve done Olympic weightlifting, Crossfit, long-distance running, and I played soccer as a child.

Music is another passion of mine, either listening to all types of it or learning to play. I took piano lessons for a few years as a kid and started playing Cello in 2018.

My goal in life is to always grow and challenge myself with new things, as this keeps my brain and body healthy and active. Since this is something I encourage my clients to do, I want to live what I teach.

Credentials:

• Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (CA MFC86215)
• Master of Science in Counseling Psychology, with emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, California Lutheran University, 2011
• Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, California State University Channel Islands, 2009

Specialized Training and Certifications:

• Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner – Somatic Experiencing® Institute
• Internal Family Systems, Level 1
• EMDR Basic Training – EMDR Institute
• EMDR Certified Therapist – EMDR International Association
• Specialized EMDR trainings – Addiction/Compulsive Behaviors, Teens/Tweens, Attachment and Developmental Trauma, Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders
• EMDR Child Specialist and EMDR Sandtray Specialist – AGATE Institute
• Trauma Resiliency Model, Level 1
• NeuroAffective Touch®
• NeuroAffective Relational Model, Level 2 
• Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor
• Somatic therapy for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) (taught by Kim Dire)