Opening Into Wisdom and Compassion

My private practice is located on the Oakland/Emeryville border, in the East Bay of Northern California. A doctor of clinical psychology (Psy.D.), licensed clinical psychologist (PSY 29436, California), licensed psychotherapist (LMFT 50993, California) and nationally board certified music therapist (MT-BC 05773), I have been working with individuals, couples, and groups for over twenty years, both in private practice and in various medical centers and community clinics. This range and depth of experience has imprinted me with a profound regard for the spectrum of ways different people suffer from a range of mental distress. It has also instilled in me a certainty about the human capacity to face and to go beyond suffering.

My commitment to integrating conventional, contemplative, and creative approaches to wellbeing is anchored in my undergraduate training in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality studies at Stanford University (BA), together with my graduate training in Counseling Psychology and Music Therapy at Naropa University (MA), my postgraduate training in and teaching of Integral Psychology and Psychotherapy at Integral Institute, and my doctoral study in Psychoanalytic Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Wright Institute (Psy.D.).

I served on the faculty at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado from 2000-2007 where I taught over a dozen courses in psychology and creativity to graduate and undergraduate students. I also served on the faculty at John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, California, at the inception of the Integral Studies Program in 2006. As a Postdoctoral Fellow, I taught doctoral students at Alliant International University's Psychological Services Center. In fall of 2017, I joined the faculty at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California, in the Clinical Psychology Department. I began serving as Director of Clinical Training at NDNU in May of 2018. In summer of 2020, I will also join the faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, in the clinical psychology doctoral program. In addition, I train and consult with clinicians in the view and application of Integral Relational Psychotherapy.

My clinical experience includes the Zen Hospice Project of San Francisco; the National Eating Disorders Information Center at Toronto General Hospital; the Mental Health Center of Boulder County’s Family and Community Team; the Mental Health Center of Boulder County’s Developmental Disabilities Home Care Team; Boulder Community Hospital’s Music Care Program; Saint Anthony’s Hospital Emergency Psychiatric Team, Denver/Westminster; Kwawachee Counseling Center, Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Tacoma; Medical Hill Neurobehavioral Psychiatric Ward, Oakland; UCSF Alliance Health Project, San Francisco; Wright Clinic, Berkeley; Women's Therapy Center, Berkeley; California College of the Arts, Oakland/San Francisco; Alliant International University, Psychological Services Center, San Francisco.

Beyond my extensive formal training, clinical experience and teaching in psychology, my work with clients is informed by dedicated personal practice and study in meditation, music (see Lionessroars and The Watermoons), and yoga.