LMFT, 18 years of experience
I am a Somatic Psychotherapist, with a focus on empowering women to claim themselves in life. I focus on a woman’s relationship to herself (or their self) and how they respond to their inner child, inner self or selves, their inner experience, their close relationships, their community and the world. When our collaboration is working, between you and I, we can find the patterns in your life that keep you stuck in ruts outside your awareness. (Grow may report that I take insurances other than Kaiser, but I only work with Kaiser/Kaiser Permanente at this time.)
In our first sessions, we will list your current challenges and connect you to some resources, if needed, to see if we can get you some relief. As soon as possible, I will invite you to help me get to know you - who you are, your experiences in the past, especially your developmental years. These things will tell me how to best serve you. I am happy to consult with a past therapist to get your history if that would help move things along. My goal is to help you feel safe, seen, supported and known, so the organic side of therapy can begin to take root.
The way I work can be effective for women who have extra sensitivity to their own inner body states and experiences; for women who find themselves repeatedly numbed out or dissociated but want to be in closer communion with themselves; for women who get overwhelmed by physical experience or triggers; and/or for women who are developing greater awareness of the sensations of their body, whether they want to have it or not. You may have high sensitivity or want more sensitivity - in both cases, somatic work is especially powerful in settling the inner noise of unwanted sensation AND for reuniting with the ‘good and pleasing’ sensations of your body. I do my best work with complex ptsd, developmental trauma, relational trauma, and the ways trauma may manifest in individuals, such as depression, anxiety, addictions, obsessions, isolation, avoidance, fantasy, spiritualizing, relationship vagueness or conflict, and more. If this reflects your experience, and if you want to inhabit your body in a different way, let's meet to see if we are a good fit. If I can help, I'd like to be part of your journey.
Do you feel stuck? Do you feel like you can't unpack the complexity of what you are experiencing or how you're responding? Are you a seeker of truth and meaning, but lose sight of life balance: work, play, spirituality, romance...? Do you have insights, but still can't get better? Are you unable to level up this time? Do you feel like you end up at the same result over and over? Do you want to have access to the ability to celebrate who you are, your strengths, intelligence and unique view of the world? Do you want more creativity, empowerment, delight, ease and playfulness in your life? I use Somatic Psychology to help adult women feel their way through their challenges, grow their strategies and move toward richer experiences of connection to themselves, to embodiment, to empowerment and to love.
I attended a Master level, Somatic Counseling Psychology program in the San Francisco/Bay Area of Northern California. Nearly all subjects were taught through a body psychology/Somatic perspective. And all my training since has been focused on how to use Somatic Psychology to help people with PTSD heal. I am particularly interested in the science of neuropsychology, because it is not only a foundational concept of body psychology, but it can be directly applied in somatic work by normalizing a person's responses to life, trauma, loss, relationships, etc. Any belief a person might hold, that there is something wrong with them, can typically be explained by Neuropsychology (a branch of science that explains the physiological processes of the nervous system and relates those processes to our experiences).