About Me
I am a licensed clinical psychologist providing services in the Oakland and Pleasanton areas. I have been a Bay Area resident for the last seven years and have provided psychological services across a wide array of communities. When I am not working, you will likely find me running by the plentiful bodies of water and lush greens we live among. My other hobbies include writing, playing piano, and traveling.
I am a licensed clinical psychologist providing individual psychotherapy in the Oakland and Berkeley areas. I have been a Bay Area resident for the last thirteen years and have had the opportunity to work with a diverse range of communities and populations across the region.
I specialize in the treatment of adults coping with depression, stress, anxiety, relationship difficulties, and relational or attachment-based trauma. Additionally, I work with many young professionals in their 20’s and 30’s and enjoy helping them find a healthy balance between work, family/friends, and within themselves.
An additional area of interest and specialty is working with adults who are trying to navigate relationships with emotionally immature parents. While this spectrum is wide and can range all the way from clinical narcissism to varying levels of emotional intelligence, I work with my clients to help them identify what kind of relationship they want to have with their parents, what kind of relationship is realistic, and how to implement boundaries as needed to maintain a healthy relationship, if possible. Further work in this area may include understanding the impact that growing up with an emotionally immature parent has had, and how to gain freedom from feelings or beliefs that prevent oneself from feeling like they are in charge of their own lives.
Throughout my training I have worked in a variety of settings including homeless shelters, community mental health clinics in the Berkeley and Haight Ashbury areas, as well as hospital settings. I completed my pre-doctoral internship at the Martinez County Hospital, during which I worked closely with primary care physicians and psychiatrists to provide integrative and collaborative care for my clients. In addition to providing brief, solution-focused treatment and exam-room consultations, I co-lead a Seeking Safety Group for individuals coping with trauma and substance abuse. The following year I completed my post-doctoral residency at Kaiser Vallejo, during which I provided a combination of brief and long-term treatment in the psychiatry department. I additionally co-lead a Bipolar Support and Skills Group, a Social Anxiety Group, and participated in an Intensive Outpatient Program rotation. A large focus of my training in these settings also focused on testing, during which I developed strong skills in conducing both neuropsychological and psycho-diagnostic assessments (i.e., helping individuals with diagnostic clarification and treatment planning). Through my work at the Martinez County Hospital and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, I have a strong foundation in treating individuals from a bio-psycho-social perspective.
I graduated from the Wright Institute with a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology in 2016, and received by bachelor's degree in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz, graduating with distinction and academic honors. My dissertation focused on exploring the lived experience of adults who grew up with a parent diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As such, I have a specific interest in working with individuals who are struggling to navigate being in a relationship with a parent who is emotionally immature or lives with mental illness.
When I am not working, you will likely find me running or cross-training. My other hobbies include writing, singing, and spending quality time with my dog Beaker.