​

I'm a licensed as a Mental Health Counselor Associate by Washington State (license MC61469726). I have a private practice in psychotherapy in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood, and am supervised by Judy K. Eekhoff, PhD (license PY00001016) and Jeffrey Grant, PhD (license PY60736567). I earned a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Saybrook University. My training included a 14-month practicum/internship at Sound, a community mental health organization serving a diverse population. You can read my Psychology Today profile here.

 

My work as a therapist is grounded in a lifelong fascination with the interplay of mind-body-spirit. That interest led me into decades of study in these domains, as well as professional work as a bodyworker and teacher in a spiritual tradition. As a bodyworker, I saw how people's stories and histories, including trauma, cause chronic pain, tension, and holding patterns. My spiritual interests focus on open-ended, non-dogmatic approaches that recognize an interface between spiritual questions and psychological issues, considering both ego health and ego transcendence and how to embody our spiritual nature in day-to-day living.

 

Years of working one-on-one with bodywork clients and spiritual seekers highlighted the primacy of suffering based in our early emotional histories and patterns of relating, leading me to train as a psychotherapist. My work is primarily informed by psychodynamic and psychoanalytically informed psychotherapy, Jungian theory and modalities including Sandplay and dreamwork, the Somatic Experiencing® approach to trauma, and a phenomonological / emotional / somatic orientation.

 

I am deeply committed to ongoing professional development and in particular continue psychodynamic, Jungian, Sandplay, and Somatic Experiencing studies. I am a member of Center for Object Relations, Washington Mental Health Counselors Association, Jungian Psychotherapists Association, Sandplay Therapists of America, and a community member of Northwest Psychoanalytic Society & Institute.

 

I was raised in the Midwest and lived for extended periods in greater Tokyo and Hawai'i before moving to Seattle in 2005. I am interested in creativity, life at our transformative edges, and finding pleasure in simple things like my dog and garden.

Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength. 

​

                                    – Sigmund Freud