Education

How I got here

I came to therapy skeptical, to put it mildly.

My first experience of it, as a client, left me with more questions than answers. My first therapist turned out to be someone whose life was falling apart, which puzzled me because I thought I was supposed to be taking advice from this person. And watching people I was close to cycle through years of intensive therapy without anything fundamental seeming to shift — that didn't inspire confidence either.

So when I decided to study psychotherapy, it wasn't because I believed in it. It was because I wanted to find out what in it was actually real. I was convinced the field was full of approaches that looked good on paper and didn't move much in practice. I wanted to find the things that did and figure out how to become a clinician I could be proud of.

That search is what led me to experiential and relational approaches, to trauma-centered work, and DvT. These approaches are the ones I’ve seen produce the most lasting change in people. That's still the standard I hold myself to.

Training

I earned my Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2024, with a focus on experiential and relational approaches, drama therapy, and embodied methods.

Alongside that foundation I trained in an integrative framework drawing from CBT, EFT, psychodynamic therapy, and solution-focused approaches — not as a hedge, but because the best clinicians I encountered weren't dogmatic about method. They used what worked for the person in front of them.

I also trained in Developmental Transformations (DvT), a drama therapy method developed by David Read Johnson that uses structured improvisation as a therapeutic tool. I trained at the DvT Institute in San Francisco and am currently founding the LA institute, DvT LAX.

I am currently supervised by Scott Johnson, LMFT.

Clinical experience

Silicon Beach Psychotherapy, Los Angeles — I currently see individual and couples clients in private practice, working across trauma, addiction, ADHD, shame, anxiety, and relationship patterns.

Addiction-focused therapy, Long Beach — I work as an Associate MFT providing individual and group therapy for clients in recovery. The work is deeply psychotherapeutic: addiction is rarely just about the substance. It intersects with trauma, identity, relationships, shame, and meaning. Treating it well means treating the whole person.

Ohlhoff Recovery Programs, San Francisco — My internship was at this sober-living environment, where I first developed a serious interest in addiction treatment. The clients I worked with there shaped a lot of how I think about resilience.

School-based therapy, San Francisco — I worked as a therapist in San Francisco schools, sitting with students in some of the most pivotal moments of their lives. It reinforced something I already suspected: most of us are trying to navigate our inner lives without ever having been taught how they work.

Research

I am currently one of three play facilitators in a neuroscience study at USC measuring the impact of playfulness on cognitive function, replicating an Israeli study using MRI imaging with elderly participants. It's the kind of work that matters to me: building scientific grounding for what I already see happening clinically, that play is serious business.

Credentials

MA, Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies, 2024 Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, California, #152546 Supervised by Scott Johnson, LMFT, #42955