I am a licensed marriage and family therapist with thirty years of clinical experience working with individuals, couples, and families in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I hold a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and a Doctorate in Rhetoric with a focus on race, gender and psychoanalysis.  I am endorsed as an Infant/Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist, Reflective Practice Facilitator II, and Mentor.  I am an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and hold a private practice in Oakland, California.

Psychotherapy
I work with couples, families, and individuals of all ages who are going through life transitions or experiencing challenges of various kinds.  The focus is on relationships: at work/school, with partners, family, friends, or community, and with the self and personal undertakings.  My approach to psychotherapy is psychoanalytically-informed, which means that I join with clients in understanding what is contributing to their difficulties in order to support them in experiencing greater reward in relationships and life endeavors and increased psychological freedom.  I meet with clients one, two, or three times per week.

Areas of specialization and affinity:

  • Infancy and early childhood
  • LGBTQ individuals and families
  • Pregnancy and postpartum issues
  • Divorce, blended families, and co-parenting
  • Tending the relationship with the creative self
  • Unique paths to parenthood and family formation
  • Navigating separation, individuation and connectedness at various life stages