My Approach to Psychotherapy      

Update May 2020: During sheltering in place, I'm doing appointments through a HIPAA-compliant videoconferencing site. Please call me for more information. 

     My approach to your growth work is supportive, engaged and interactive, coming from over 20 years of experience and learning.

     We start by you guiding me to understanding how your core childhood emotional wounds are still impacting you today. 

     Those wounds happened decades ago but they still impact you because of how deeply you were wounded as a child. We were all wounded at various times as children because the adults around us didn't know how to help us heal from those life woundings. 

     As you trust in our process and let me help you discover how to get in touch with those wounds, I guide you in doing the deep work together of healing you to the core. In large part that growth means feeling those wounds in your body and allowing me to guide you in having your part in healing your body, mind and soul.

   As we work together, we'll find and work with your growing edges. Most of us need help with managing their triggers: those very intense parts of ourselves that protect us but also interfere. Those triggers are connected with core wounds. Those triggers and wounds make us do different things: fight or flee or misuse substances or freeze or give up instead of feeling strong, capable, clear and competent.

   Our work will includes your body process, especially your sensations and your nervous system, so your healing is more deeply integrated into the core of you: into your mind and body. I use energetic touch to increase your awareness of your body process. We do that work on a bodywork table; you remain fully clothed. 

   We'll explore, experiment and help you put into practice what you learn. We'll help you integrate those changes into your life. As we go along, I'll attune the pace and intensity of our work together from your feedback.

     Please call me to discuss this more: 510-684-4508 mobile. Let me explain to you how we might work together. There's also more to read below and on the other pages in this site. 

    "Therapy is first about discovering. It's about who you are and about what your deepest emotional attitudes are. It's not just about who you think you are. It's not opinion. It's not something you can know with the intellect. It's about who you are in the very heart of yourself."         From www.hakomiinstitute.com



My specializations:           

• Individual Therapy click here

Personal Transformation and Neuroplasticity 

Our past ways of responding to life have conditioned us to relate to our world from those experiences. When those were difficult, painful experiences, we can feel bad in any number of ways: anxious, numb, angry, lost...those old conditioned ways of being in the world make us know it's time for a change. 

Your brain and nervous system have an amazing ability to change how you relate to life.  That ability is called neuroplasticity. When we change how you feel deeply about core issues, your nervous system changes. Your feelings change. Your old limited ways of being in the world change. But in order to make those changes, you need to find them in therapy and apply in your daily life.

As we find new ways in therapy for you to handle your old issues, your feelings and thinking will become conditioned to new ways of being in the world. Your mindbody connection will feel better too. That transformation will help lift your mood and change your core approach to life. It's a journey of transformation.

Well-being and Your Wiser, Better Self

Well-being comes from a combination of factors. Key to well-being is having a wise, observing, skillful sense of self that's guiding your daily actions, thoughts and feelings. People call this skillful self-knowledge different things: the better self, the wise mind or higher power. Whatever it's called, we can help you develop it. We'll help you refine how you use your inner wisdom on a daily basis.

We’ll carefully experiment with changes in your life tailored to help your life improve.  As you experiment with these changes, we’ll discuss and reflect on them week by week. We'll discover what works better for you and you'll experience how your life gets better.

Journeys into Insight and Self-Knowing

As we work together, you'll see you can trust in my skills and experience to help you understand yourself more fully. From increased emotional intelligence about yourself, your insight, your best judgment and your communication skills will develop. 

Expanded, concentrated self-awareness on a moment by moment basis in your daily life--coupled with your willpower and non-judgmental curiosity--are needed for meaningful change. I help you bring into play together all these skills and realizations so they reshape your life.   



Compassion's Role

One of the universal truths about all of us is that we all have made mistakes. We can get stuck in blaming ourselves. Self-compassion helps you not get stuck in blaming yourself. Compassion for others helps you move on from being stuck in relationships--while remembering what you need to do to protect yourself from what those people may do to you in the future. 

All of these elements combine through mindfully attending to yourself to move you out of your old, automatic, dead-end reactions and habits. This is utilizing the mind-body interface to direct your change process. Current therapeutic research shows us that living from mindful, present-centered noticing of our inner process--with clear intentions of what's best for us--gives us the best support in responding to life from a much more resilient and resourced state.

As our work together deepens in you knowing and trusting yourself, you will live life more spontaneously from your embodied, guiding wisdom. As your inner wisdom is more in charge of your responses and your planning, you’ll be hijacked less often by your old negative patterns. More fulfillment from life will come. You'll guide your life by using your abilities to take in information, assess it, prioritize it, and respond wisely to it with what you most need in each moment. 



“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” - Lao Tzu

     My usual session is for 50 minutes. We can schedule a longer session if desired or needed, unless your insurance doesn't pay for it. Please ask me for my current fees.

Scheduling: Please call me. I do not offer appointments on Fridays or weekends and I have very few evening appointments, unless it is an emergency. Most of my appointments are between the hours of 10 am to 5 pm.