I would like to start off by telling you a little bit about myself including my professional background and related experience working in the field of psychology. I graduated with honors from Cal State Dominguez Hills University with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. I was inducted into the national honors society in psychology during the completion of my undergraduate degree. I gained experience in the counseling field by volunteering with the Sexual Assault Crisis Agency as an Emergency Victims Advocate. In addition, I also worked as a career counselor in the Psychology Department at Cal State Dominguez Hills University.
After receiving my Bachelors of Arts Degree I decided to peruse a Masters Degree in Psychology with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy at Chapman University. During my graduate work I gained additional clinical experience by working as a school counselor through Pepperdine University’s school counseling program. While working in the schools in the San Juan Capistrano Unified School District I conducted individual, family and group therapy with adolescents. I also continued to see individuals, couples and families in the Chapman University’s Community Clinic as a part of my practicum units. I graduated with honors from Chapman University and was nominated to be student of the year.
I have worked in a wide range of clinical settings to gain experience while working towards my licensure hours. I have worked with first time adolescent offenders and their families through a youth diversion program with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. I also worked with adolescent girls through the Orange County’s Social Services Department in their residential group homes.
On completion of my licensure hours I began working at Rebecca’s House which is an outpatient eating disorder treatment center. I conducted numerous groups and worked with the patients in individual and family therapy. I began to work in my private practice in 2006. I currently see in my practice individuals, couples, families and groups.
I have a strong passion to provide my clients with all of the help, support, and guidance that they need to get through life’s challenges and to gain a deeper understanding of how they view their self, world and others. I work with a wide range of emotional and behavioral issues providing services that span from therapy for depression and grief counseling to parenting support, couples counseling and beyond. In a comfortable and supportive atmosphere, I offer a highly personalized approach tailored to each of my clients’ individual needs to help attain the personal growth they’re striving for.
Every therapy session is unique and caters to each client’s specific needs and goals for treatment. I usually begin treatment with providing concrete interventions to help provide the client with some form of symptom relief. At this time I will be taking a thorough background history including the client’s childhood experiences, family of origin, substance abuse or trauma history, previous experiences in therapy, and past/current relationships. I am very interested in my clients past and how their experiences have shaped who they are.
My approach to working with couples is to utilize a variety of research based modalities with the goal to increase empathy, decrease the frequency of conflict, improve communication, and create a strong attachment bond within the relationship. I begin treatment by seeing each individual within the couple to gather background history. I do adhere to a “no secrets” policy which means that any information that is shared during individual sessions will be encouraged to be brought into future couples sessions. It is my belief that in order to build trust and form strong alliances with each individual all information needs to be shared. I provide ongoing assignments to help my couples work on the skills that they learned in session.
Thank you for taking the time to read my bio and I look forward to working with you.