About Me
I work in private practice both remotely and in my office in Santa Monica. I have unconditional acceptance of the client, allowing people, adults and children alike, to learn to accept themselves and bring more authenticity into their lives and relationships.
The way that the way we have dealt with past experiences, often from childhood, affects our present relationships, especially in times of stress and disagreement. One of my goals is to bring to light how these past experiences may be affecting you now, and through this increased awareness help you thoughtfully respond to difficulties, rather than react abruptly.
This is key with parents, as they often benefit from looking closely at what they would like to repeat that their parents did during their childhoods, and what they would like to do differently when parenting their own children. Being mindful of the past helps us make conscious choices in the present.
When working with children, I uses play therapy to allow the child to communicate their story through metaphor to prepare them to talk directly about their experiences.
Experience
My career began teaching Kindergarten at California State University Northridge’s Lab School. In response to the Northridge Earthquake I developed a play therapy curriculum, helping the Kindergarteners process their experience and decrease symptoms of post traumatic stress. This work became my thesis project and was the beginning of my deep understanding of how play can be used to heal trauma and process life events. Around the same time I was a gymnastics coach and a swimming instructor at Los Angeles Valley College. After 5 years as a teacher of young children, I realized she was drawn to help the children who had more challenges.
As a Child Development Specialist and Therapeutic Companion. I provided support for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, working on reading social cues, connecting with peers, and participating in mainstream environments. I ran social skills groups for children with developmental delays. In group settings, as well as one-on-one, I used a Floortime perspective to encourage reciprocal communication and build social skills.
After 20 years of working with children I knew I wanted to work with parents on a deeper level; I earned my second Master’s degree in 2006 with a Marriage and Family Therapy specialization. While an associate therapist at Well Baby Center in Mar Vista, I began to work with parents as a Mindful Parenting Group facilitator and as a therapist working with children and families.
Work with parents has become a cornerstone of my practice. Helping parents understand their children’s needs and behaviors, as well as understand their own emotional responses and “triggers” increases attachment and brings closeness to the parent-child relationship.
I began working with adults and couples as an associate therapist and after licensure at a non-profit counseling center. When working with individuals and couples, I discovered that my expertise in child development enhances my ability to understand and empathize with adults, and, in the case of couples - to help them understand and empathize with each other. Work with adults now fills about half of my practice.