(she/her)
Hello! I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the East Bay Area of California. I completed my master's at the University of California Berkeley & have been working in nearby communities for 25 years. I have especially enjoyed working with youth & parents who are going through stressful life stages or disruptions that have ruptured their communication or made it hard to move forward together.
In our first session together, you can expect a warm, calm, nonjudgmental greeting & approach from me that puts you at ease enough for us to get to know each other a bit. You can expect simple & active listening to what is important for you to talk about, with gentle exploring or clarifying questions. I believe this will allow you to feel safe enough to begin figuring or spelling out what therapy goals you have, or what you would like to gain from working together.
I believe we hold unrecognized capacity to heal, grow & connect. One of the strengths I bring as a provider is helping teens, young adults & parents to gain clarity regarding the positive & helpful things that they are already doing toward their goals, as well to recognize their negative self judgments & miscalculations that get in their way. I understand that different members of the same family may feel very differently about the same thing, & I can help navigate those differences together. I know that one size does not fit all & may draw from CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), DBT (Dialectical & Behavior Therapy) & ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) techniques.
I love working with older teens & young adults who find themselves wanting to improve their quality of life by living as their authentic selves, reducing anxiety, or improving their relationships. I enjoy supporting parents & caregivers who want to better understand, communicate & connect with their children. I like to both validate & challenge parents as they do the best they can, out of tremendous love & commitment, to make meaningful changes for their families. Often the teens that I have worked with have identified as transgender, non-binary & genderqueer. I also love supporting young adults as they navigate the challenges of "adulting" & living out their values day to day.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I believe that the simple framework of CBT is useful for all people who want to identify & change painful patterns in their lives. Because it is so flexible, I have used it to focus on a particular challenge that clients request to work on, but I find that weaving it in throughout the therapy journey is transformative because it changes how people see themselves, their capacity & the future.
Gender-affirming therapy
For me "gender affirming" is not a treatment method, it is a way of supporting a person's authentic self or a person's journey to figuring out & living how they choose to in that authentic selfhood, understanding that there can be numerous obstacles uniquely presented by today's society & political climate. I have worked with many youth & their parents around gender identity & the stressors that often accompany it.