Bio and Information

"True service is not a relationship between an expert and a problem; it is far more genuine than that. It is a relationship between people who bring the full resources of their combined humanity to the table and share them generously. Service goes beyond expertise...Service is a relationship between equals." Rachel Naomi Remen

I believe deeply in the inherent capacity of individuals to be resilient, to heal, and to grow.

Areas of particular focus or interest are: learning variation/disabilities; grief work, trauma and PTSD (women and veterans), life planning, infertility and family adaptation after resolution, and diet/body image concerns. I am available to provide psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and youth, and related consultation. I am interested in working with students (high school through college age) related to learning variation/disabilities. General and therapeutic yoga classes (e.g., trauma-sensitive), private yoga/bodywork sessions, and workshops will be offered at the Center location.

My therapeutic orientation is drawn from psychodynamic, family systems, trauma, neurodevelopmental, and integrative bodywork theories and practice. My primary frame, informed by this knowledge and practice base, is that all individuals have learned ways of being in the world based upon a convergence of interpersonal and intrapersonal factors, general physical and cognitive functioning, and variable life experiences. Therapeutic work allows individuals to rework or shift patterns that no longer serve them and/or address specific treatment issues (e.g., trauma, learning disabilities/variation) through an exploration and reintegration of these experiences and/or the development of alternative adaptations and skill development.

I love yoga and because of this, I practice and teach. Yoga has been a central part of my growth and healing over the past 13 years. Having experienced PTSD, yoga has helped me re-inhabit my body with an ever-expanding sense of well-being and ease. My personal experience and professional training in yoga therapeutics has allowed me to understand the true potential of yoga, meditation, and breath-work in soothing the stress response in the body and mind. I completed a 40-hour trauma-sensitive yoga teacher certificate program at The Trauma Center at JRI directed by Bessel van der Kolk, a renowned trauma expert. He and the staff at JRI have been studying the impact of yoga on the reduction of PTSD symptoms with favorable results. Included within the training was how to utilize or adapt yoga to specific individuals needs (e.g., chair yoga.) I'm very much looking forward to bringing therapeutic yoga, both group and individual, into the broader community.

For me, the practice on the mat is a metaphor, an opportunity to become mindful about what happens in the body and mind in the presence of pleasure, discomfort, intensity, openness, and constriction. One of the core gifts is to learn how to meet whatever arises with compassion, loving-kindness, and grace.

Medicaid accepted.