LPC, 10 years of experience
New to Grow
The overall theme of my life is a journey to deepen my appreciation and understanding of human experience. Along the way I have become a mental health counselor, Zen practitioner and meditator, anthropologist and archeologist, tango and swing dance instructor and performer, songwriter, and guitarist. I bring these various experiences into my counseling practice through mindfulness, creativity, and awareness of multiculturalism. I feel that despite the ups and downs of life, it is possible to find fulfillment and joy through developing a broad perspective, open mind, and attention to the momentary experiences of everyday life. I hope to offer others relief from their suffering and greater appreciation for their lives.
I will listen to your concerns, feelings, and history and endeavor to develop a deep understanding of your life. Then we will decide together where to focus in therapy and develop a plan. I balance a structured and learning-oriented approach with a detailed understanding of your individual life and needs. Based on this I will begin to offer you concrete observations and strategies to help you feel better right from our first session.
My clients often say that I helped them see their lives differently and become aware of new perspectives and possibilities. I specialize in trauma therapy, mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), arts-informed therapy, and body-centered therapy. My approach to trauma is informed by years of working with highly traumatized populations as a crisis clinician and therapist in a low-income urban area. My background in mindfulness is based on my experience living in a Zen monastery for two years, training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and intensive experience with over a dozen mindfulness and meditation groups for almost two decades. My experience in the arts includes songwriting, playing guitar, teaching and performing dance, drawing, painting, visual arts education, experience in theater, and application of mindfulness in the arts. I can incorporate the arts into therapy if you feel it would inspire or help you. My focus on body-based therapy comes from decades of experience as a dancer and mindfulness practitioner. Focusing on the body is often a key to reducing anxiety and processing trauma, and my experience has given me significant awareness and skill in this area.
I believe that therapy should be an inspiring and insightful experience in which you will learn about your mind and see new perspectives on your life and relationships. Thus I will make our work together an experience of growth rather than just focusing on problems. If you are someone who enjoys creativity and learning and would like to see new possibilities in your life then we should have a fruitful therapeutic relationship.
I provide genuine and effective mindfulness and mediation treatment and training based on my experience living in a Zen monastery for two years, training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and intensive experience with over a dozen mindfulness and meditation groups for almost two decades.
You don't have to suffer from past trauma. Many years of working with highly traumatized populations as a crisis clinician led me to specialize in turning post-traumatic stress into post-traumatic growth. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a highly effective treatment for alleviating the pain of trauma and I can combine EMDR with mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for particularly effective trauma therapy.
I facilitate cognitive behavioral therapy with depth far beyond jsut learning skills and recognizing negative thoughts. The depth of my approach is in two areas focusing on schemas and cognitive defusion. Schemas are underlying concepts that form from past experience and influence current thinking. Defusion is the ability to be aware of thoughts as mental events happening in the present in the same way a person becomes aware of a dream upon waking up. By combining these aspects of CBT you will both develop a deep understanding of how your current thinking developed from your history and family, and you will also develop the ability to cease to be affected by negative schema and thoughts.