largest jail but also the largest mental health facility in the nation. It was that experience that began to codify my approach to this work. I developed profound relationships working with my clients who were locked up in jail but I also learned from the way my body reacted to being inside of a jail all day long. It was here that I truly realized the awesome and unique power of “relationship” and how fundamental it is to the very essence of our well-being.Working at the jail changed me in such a foundational way and gave me the opportunity to connect with people who had been stripped of everything but their basic humanity. That experience solidified my ability to genuinely connect with the “sameness” in all of us. It made me a deeper, more understanding, more compassionate, and more human person. I finally understood that connection goes far beyond the thoughts in the mind. Experiencing a “felt sense” of connection with another person transcends language and analysis. True connection is about two people communing in presence, not just dialogue.

In my graduate school thesis, “The Mindful Way to Secure Attachment” I developed a theoretical treatment modality called Autonomic Regulation Therapy (ART) for people with Borderline Personality Disorder. In people with Personality Disorders, “prior knowledge” (previous life experience) dominates perception and habitually triggers false alarms in the Central Nervous System (CNS). When the CNS is perpetually activated, adults experience extreme anxiety, mistrust, dissociation, paranoia, emotional dysregulation, and impulsivity. As a result, sensory information from the environment fails to make its way into perception. ART is an integrative “enactive approach” that repairs homeostasis between the emotional mind and the CNS. By strengthening bottom-up processing though body awareness ART teaches patients with varying degrees of chronic mental illness how to create a secure attachment to “self”. This work became the cornerstone for the therapist I am today.

After grad school I spent several years working for a California non-profit in community mental health. I oversaw the Misdemeanour Incompetent to Stand Trial (MIST) program which essentially helps people with Severe Mental Illness get out of “said” jail and into community mental health treatment. I worked with the sickest people in Los Angeles country, facing the most dire circumstances life can dole out. I became a content expert on working with Severe Mental Illness and using alternative approaches like yoga, Tai Chi, and relationally focused therapy to improve quality of life and build community. I have training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Relationally Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness, DBT Skills, Family Systems, Attachment Therapy, and Yoga.

I am a proud woman, mama, wife, yogi, and dedicated student.

I believe that finding the right person to do inner work with is one of the most important things we can do on the road to healing. When we find that person, therapy makes it possible for us to become who we were always meant to be. A strong and safe therapeutic relationship can be deeply transformative and a pivotal force in helping us rewrite our lives. Authentic connections have the power to restore us to our true nature and allow us to love and be loved more fully. My greatest passion is helping people discover and step into the most authentic and meaningful versions of who they are.