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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). 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, Northwest Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, the C. G. Jung Society Seattle, American Mental Health Counselors Association, Washington Mental Health Counselors Association, Jungian Psychotherapists Association, 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. 

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                                    – Sigmund Freud