Education

In 2002, I was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, where I supported and worked with parents and their children and adolescents who struggled with significant emotional and behavioral challenges. My relationships at Stanford and acquired experiences reinforced my collaborative approach to working with clients, with an emphasis on evidence-based, cutting edge clinical care.

After receiving my doctoral degree, I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I completed my clinical internship training in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico Medical School. I acquired meaningful experiences in both inpatient and outpatient settings, assessing and treating child and adolescent patients who presented with a range of mental and emotional health problems, addictions, and medical illnesses. This work entailed close collaboration with parents or guardians.

I received my doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2001 from the University of Oregon (UO). At the University of Oregon, I engaged in research, taught university classes, and trained to work with children, adolescents, and adults with a variety of emotional and behavioral difficulties that affected their daily functioning. I gained invaluable experiences in individual, couples, and family therapy, under the supervision of experts in the field of anxiety and mood disorders, and couples and family therapy. Knowing I would become a clinician, I completed twice the required clinical training.

Approach and Experiences

My doctoral training in a Ph.D. clinical psychology program has shaped the way I approach therapy with my clients. I pursued the Ph.D. because I wanted training in the scientist-practitioner model, in which I would become an applied psychologist with a foundation in research and scientific practice. I want to provide the type of help that has been shown to work.

My previous work included intensive therapy and interventions for parents of young adults and teens in out-of-home treatment. In addition, I served as co-Clinical Director (and psychologist) at a therapeutic boarding school for young adults and teens. I had also been Research Director, and later Program Director of a Predoctoral Clinical Psychology Program I developed to train clinical psychology doctoral students. I have given talks about research in clinical psychology and treatment of adolescents and adults at regional, national, and international conferences.

Since 2014, I have been in private practice, where I have provided psychological services to children, teenagers, and adults. While continuing to be in private practice, I joined Children's Program in 2020 to work with teenagers and adults. Children's Program has been around for over 40 years in Portland, Oregon, and presently with over 30 clinicians who collaborate and consult regularly with each other.

"Being the 'best you can be' is really only possible when you are deeply connected to another. Splendid isolation is for planets, not people." — Dr. Sue Johnson

I need you to help me understand what brought you to therapy, sharing what you are able to. What or who has helped, hindered or hurt? We will work together to create meaning from your experiences —usually rooted in attachment or relational challenges — and we will develop an active and pragmatic approach of effective strategies and interventions that is catered to your needs. You may already be engaging in change with your own effective solutions that we will make more obvious. I engage clients in collaborative coaching, inviting them to bring to awareness and to examine their behavioral, cognitive, and relational patterns in a nonjudgmental way and to observe how different decisions and behaviors serve to support or undermine daily functioning. Together, we will evolve your sense of contentment in life that you have desired.