With compassion, presence and warmth, I am here to be your partner and guide on your growth journey. I partner with you to heal emotional trauma and gain self-acceptance through my specialized mind-body approach. I support you through healing limiting beliefs about yourself, developing excellent boundaries, and connecting with your inner-wisdom. You are unique and so is your therapy process, so we tailor our work together to your specific needs and goals. I serve empaths and highly sensitive people, supporting you in coming home to who you really are. Somatic. LGBTQ+. Internal Family Systems. Check out my TEDx talk via my website!
I strive to create a safe container to help you access the parts of you that are innately whole, connected, and oriented toward the North Star in your night sky. I believe that under the right conditions, with the right tools, and through the right relationships, each of us is capable of the healing, growing, and thriving that we seek. Through empathic attunement and active collaboration, I hope to help you learn to experience, explore, and nurture your most authentic self.
I partner with clients who are considering what life they want for themselves, or are facing up to problems and standing up to what makes them feel stuck. I have a multi-cultural background and have worked in places where human freedoms were restricted by systems of oppression. I am familiar with what it feels like to be subjugated to powers that seem stronger than us and that keep us in fear. I believe in the dignity of living with hardship and in the power of resistance.
I offer individual, couples, polycules and group psychotherapy and art therapy services to people of all ages and identities in a boutique office/studio space in North Oakland and remotely.
Are you feeling disconnected, frustrated or overwhelmed? Do you find it a struggle to build close, intimate relationships or to deeply connect to those closest to you? If you are looking to improve the quality of you most important relationships or to feel more skillful in building new relationships, I would look forward to working with you.
Getting sick of what's bothering you? Are your thoughts feeling tough to control? Been challenging to unwind, enjoy yourself, or get a good night's sleep? Feeling emotionally lonely, frustrated with family, or disappointed with your friends?
You may be successful professionally and still experience dips in your self-esteem, mood, and energy. Imposter syndrome goes hand in hand with perfectionism, procrastination, and productivity. The irony is you may be working harder than most people around you, and yet feel worse about yourself than they do.
You don't have to keep living like this. Therapy can help you understand how your mind works and optimize accordingly. For example, you can catch self-defeating negative thoughts and reframe them to be more helpful for you through CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
You have the right to feel better too.
I have specialized in the treatment of anxiety, fear, and OCD for over 20 years. I frequently work with individuals struggling with chronic worry, social anxiety, panic disorder, and OCD. These conditions are very treatable and evidence-based interventions are effective in helping individuals overcome suffering and live more fulfilling lives.
Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified IMAGO Relationship Therapist, MFT, and EMDR
Couples Change conflict into connection! Certified IMAGO Relationship Therapist, David J. Kest, MFT coaches couples how to restore their loving connections practicing intentional dialogue skills. Based on the best selling book by Harville Hendrix. PhD: GETTING THE LOVE YOU WANT and Oprah's Choice!
"Psychoanalysis is an authentic encounter between two people" -R.D. Laing. Therapy is hard, but it doesn't have to be awkward. You'll want a therapist who is warm without being intruding, thoughtful but not distant, caring but not smothering, someone you feel you can trust both because they are good at what they do, but also because they are another person who can understand what you're going through. I know very well the strength required to take the first step in confronting some of life's most pernicious problems with someone you do not know yet. That is why I listen carefully with a professional ear but also attempt to maintain an approachable, personal dimension to psychotherapy sessions.
I'll always remember what it was like to be a psychotherapy patient for the first time. How disorienting it was and yet how immeasurably rewarding it became as I could start to confide in my therapist. Now, it is my mission to be a reliable confidant to my patients; to listen without judgment, to understand, to relate, and to work through difficult experiences. Being a therapist has always felt like an incredible privilege. I cannot imagine anything more rewarding than helping people find their way to a life they are happy with.
I am available by email or phone if you have any questions about starting therapy and I offer free preliminary conversations.
9 Years Experience
