I came into this work out of a desire to transform the cycles of trauma both on an individual and societal level. Destructive elements of history, society, and family are often individually reproduced and internalized. However, individual healing can also have ripple effects that travel back out into the larger socio-political and familial context to transform some of the conditions that contribute to our suffering.
I have completed the Undoing Racism training through the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. I view trauma and oppression through the lens of intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberly Crenshaw in 1989, and further developed through the thinking and activism of other women of color feminists and transfeminists. In the context of therapy, this means that I view struggles of race, class, gender, and personal healing/liberation as bound together through the institutions, structure, and fabric of our society. As a result, I encourage any and all discussion of these issues in the therapy room.
I have a Master’s Degree in Somatic Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). For over 14 years, I’ve been working as a counselor for children, adults, and adolescents. I have been working under the auspices of Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center, in a private practice setting, offering psychotherapy to couples and individual adults, since 2014. Prior to this, I worked as an individual therapist at the Center for Somatic Psychotherapy in San Francisco, and as a sand-play/play therapist at an elementary school. I spent 7 years in the field of drug and alcohol recovery and domestic violence advocacy. Within that field, I worked with survivors of domestic violence who also struggled with substance abuse and addiction issues, as well as with adolescents as a drug and alcohol counselor in a residential dual diagnosis treatment center.