We are not our trauma.

Unprocessed trauma can feel like an integrated and defining aspect of our personal identity. It is possible for deep emotional pain to soften and inform positive purpose in our lives. With your strengths, courage, skill, and dedication, your healing journey is absolutely possible and achievable.

Professionally, I am a California dually-licensed mental health clinician, a board-certified National Certified Counselor with NBCC, and a doctoral student. Personally, I am many other roles: wife, mother, stepmother, fur-mom, ex-wife, friend, and special needs advocate as a mother to kids with autism. I was a single-working mother with sole custody of my children for many years.

When I remarried, my husband emboldened my longing to return to college after a 23-year academic hiatus. I earned three college degrees, each with high honors. I obtained two clinical licenses, one as a licensed marriage and family therapist and the other as a licensed professional clinical counselor. In 2022, I opened my private clinical practice, Pacific Coast Therapist, Inc. My doctoral degree in Health Science (DHSc) is anticipated by the end of 2024.

My undulating life journey informs the empathy I feel for my clients’ complex backgrounds, challenges, and life transitions. Personally, counseling helped me gain skills and perspective that equipped me to handle what felt unbearable. It also inspired me to pursue this work. I divulge this personal history to relay that I fully understand how complicated and stressful life can be - and that there is always hope. Life is unpredictable and precious. A therapist who cares about your story can guide you in skillful and joint discovery of your unique path to wellness. My goal is to help you find yours.

Qualifications

Education

Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) - University of the Pacific (Anticipated graduation December 2024)

Master’s Degree (MA), Counseling - Palo Alto University’s Pacific Graduate School of Psychology

Bachelor of Sciences Degree (BSc), Psychology & Social Action - Palo Alto University

Associate of Arts Degree (AA), Liberal Arts - DeAnza College

Licenses

Board-Certified National Certified Counselor (NCC) #1731260 - National Board for Certified Counselors

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT) #132811 - California Board of Behavioral Sciences

Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) #13267 - California Board of Behavioral Sciences

Registered Professional Counselor Associate #R8751 - Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (Supervised by Elizabeth Hoke, LMFT Oregon T1440)

Certificates/Certifications

Adult Autism Assessment for Master’s Level Therapists Certification - The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Adult ADHD Assessment for Master’s Level Therapists Certification - The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

EFT Externship Certificate - ICEEFT, San Francisco

Certified Ecotherapy Facilitator - Mindful Ecotherapy Center, LLC

Advanced Certification in Ecotherapy - Pacifica Graduate Institute

The Science of Well Being Certificate - Yale University

Associations

Climate Psychology Alliance - North America (CPA-NA)

California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists (CAMFT)

California Association of Professional Clinical Counselors (CALPCC)

Oregon Counseling Association (ORCA)