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Since I know choosing a therapist is a very personal decision, I feel that knowing
some about my education and background could help you in deciding if I am the
right choice for you.
I was born and raised in the Bay Area. From a young age, I knew that I wanted to
help people. Not only was I the one my friends turned to when they had problems,
but I also was sought out as a young teen to write a teen advice column for the
Contra Costa Times, called Teen-to-Teen. After high school, I pursued my
bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
During my time there, I was able to spend a year studying at the University of
British Columbia. I was also able to start working with autistic children at this
time, which is when I became introduced to behavioral and family therapy. After
just three years, I graduated with my with honors in Psychology from UCSC. From
there, I went onto the graduate Clinical Psychology program at Pepperdine
University in Malibu, California, which had an emphasis on Marital, Family, and
Child Therapy. During my time there, I started to work with teenagers at a high
school, where I conducted individual and group therapy for 2 years. During this
time, I was inducted as a lifetime member of Psi Chi, which is the National Honor
Society for Psychology. After 2 years. I graduated from Pepperdine with my M.A.
in Clinical Psychology. I was then admitted into the doctoral program in
Counseling Psychology at the University of Southern California, which is
accredited by the American Psychological Association. During the 4 years as a
doctoral student there, I was able to work at several different elementary schools
and high schools, providing individual, family, and group therapy. I was also able
to work for a year at California State University, East Bay providing individual
and group therapy to adults. As part of that program, I completed my pre-doctoral
internship at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Counseling Center, also
accredited by the American Psychological Association, where I was able to provide
individual, couples, and group therapy. During my year in Hawaii, I was also
on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which provided me the opportunity to learn
a great deal about crisis work and handling a multitude of clinical situations. My
work with such a variety of clients led me to have an interest in adopted children
and adoptive families, as I started to become aware that adoptees have a unique set
of clinical concerns. Thus, I completed my dissertation on the topic of adoptees,
comparing those adoptees in open versus closed adoptions. After completing my
Ph.D. at USC, I went on to work at Kaiser Permanente as a post doctoral intern,
where I saw adults in individual, group, and couples' therapy. I was licensed in the
state of California in August, 2005. I now currently work full time as a staff
psychologist at Kaiser Permanente, and also have a private practice in Livermore,
California.