About Me…
I am a trauma and grief therapist. “What’s your approach?” is often a question someone asks me. I know that if I say, “I don’t have one” that might not be helpful, but it’s the truth. I don’t have one approach. My work is based on creating a plan with each client although the lenses are basic: attachment, early childhood, psychobiology, practical here-and-now tools, the wisdoms of the body. Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) are helpful. We explore the depth of what is happening or not happening through dream associations, active imagination, myths, journaling, symbols. Combinations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Emotional Focused Tapping (EFT); mindfulness practices; communication tools and skills; stress management; and ways your body holds memories profoundly underlie our work together. All can nurture growth and healing.
I earned a Bachelors and a Masters from Stanford and my PhD in mother-infant attachment at the University of Washington, I’ve spent thirty years specializing in the treatment of traumatized young adults, adults, and couples. I learn every day. My clients experience natural disasters, PTSD, grief and loss, depression, anxiety, abuse, poly-substance abuse, divorce, co-parenting challenges, attachment issues, family and step-family problems, difficult workplace and co-worker issues, and/or loss of meaning. I earned a second Masters degree, in Counseling Psychology, at Pacifica Graduate Institute. I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Boulder, Colorado.
Before moving here I was Clinical Director of Separation & Loss Services, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle. I worked with high-risk adolescents, most gang-affiliated, in a juvenile detention boys’ camp and in alternative high schools near Seattle and Santa Barbara. Previously I co-created and administered the Diversion Program for the Washington State Bar Association and counseled lawyers and judges. I am familiar with the issues that get well-intentioned professionals into all kinds of difficulties and the ways to help them restore and regenerate self-respect and the respect of others in their families, profession and community. I have been Co-Principal Investigator of several national trauma treatment projects.
In my experience there is never a “single issue” that brings someone in. Grief, PTSD depression and anxiety are often complex, complicated by childhood and/or intergenerational transmission of trauma, substance abuse, cultural and family issues. In my experience there is no single protocol or “treatment modality”. Please let me know if I can be of support to you or those you care about.