(253) 632-4916
Marriage and Family Therapist, AMFT
Adults
Being an adult, especially in Southern California, can come with many ups and downs, and for most people it demands a certain amount of emotional support. This stage of life comes with a lot of responsibility, from showing up to work every day to paying the bills, and of course to finding time and energy for spouses, children, and other loved ones. It can become quite a balancing act! Sometimes simply having a space to process everything that is going on can make a huge impact, and that is where I come in. My goal is to provide a space for clients to tell their story and to help them gain insight into how to utilize their strengths to decrease any stress, anxiety, or sadness that may be impacting their lives, and to increase their satisfaction.
Young Adults
Surviving high school is one thing, but trying to build a foundation for yourself to go out in the world and start “adulting” is a completely different monster. For some people it means starting a job, moving out of your parents house for the first time, or going to college. For others it means trying to make friends, find a companion, or it might mean working to make the relationships you have already established more healthy and fulfilling. When depression, anxiety, or trauma is involved, these already big transitions can become even more daunting to deal with. I use a collaborative approach to work side-by-side with my transitional aged youth clients to combat insecurities, break down challenges, and work to empower them in their lives.
Adolescents
Being a teenager today often means dealing with a ton of pressure, whether it’s from parents, friends, peers, society, or, for a lot of people, from themselves. There are certain things that are just part of the package of growing up such as establishing your own beliefs about life and figuring out how to participate in it, and sometimes obstacles like depression, anxiety, or trauma can interfere. Each person has a unique set of circumstances to navigate, and I use a strength-based approach to help adolescent clients establish an identity, develop a healthy level of self-esteem, and identify where they are on their journeys and how to gain a sense of control over where they are going.
MY APPROACH
EXISTENTIAL THERAPY
I am attracted to existential therapy for a variety of reasons, perhaps one of the most significant ones being the unique way this approach both highlights what all people have in common—conflict, loneliness, mortality—and what they don’t, which is the series of events that string together each individual person’s life. Existential therapy assumes that you have a responsibility to accept what scares you and an opportunity to decide how to cope with it. It provides you the space to acknowledge your authentic self, to have compassion for that person, and to embrace your life without the need to control it.
NARRATIVE THERAPY
I love narrative therapy because it takes somewhat abstract concepts of psychology and provides a more concrete way to understand and apply them. This approach asks you to think of your life experiences as though they were a story. It allows you to review the various chapters of your life, the characters in each chapter, and how it all comes together to form the person you are today. Furthermore, it allows you to manipulate not only what will happen, but also your understanding of what has already happened. It has the potential to be as beautiful as it is empowering.