Welcome
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker providing psychotherapy and consultation services in Oakland/Berkeley and the Bay Area. I work with individual adults, parents and parents-to-be, and infants/toddlers/young children (together with their parents). Click below to learn more about me and my approach, or scroll down for more information about therapy or consultation services.
I know that seeking therapy services for oneself or one’s child is a complex decision. My goal as a therapist is to create a safe, non-judgmental space for clients to explore the relationships in their lives and the transitions they are encountering as well as how they are managing them. My approach is one of support and collaboration — starting wherever you are and standing beside you as together we delve into learning more about your thoughts, feelings, actions, and plans.
I work with individual adults, parents, and parents-to-be. For infants and young children, I provide dyadic therapy (working with parents and their children together). I also offer parent consultation — similar to parent coaching, a more focused approach to addressing specific concerns at home or at daycare or preschool. Please click the buttons or contact me for more information on any of these services.
Are you looking for support at your early childhood program? Would you like to host trainings or workshops for parents or early care providers and educators? Does your office staff need information on parental mental health or child development to better support families?
Are you a clinician looking for supervision or consultation in your work with young children and families?
If you are looking for training in infant and early childhood mental health topics, I’d love to support your efforts at working with young children and their families. Please click the buttons or contact me to learn more about these services.
Contact me to set up a phone call. I offer (and encourage) a free initial phone conversation (about 20 minutes) to help you determine if working with me is a good fit. We can set up this call by phone or e-mail and discuss any questions you have at that time.
I’m growing my non-therapy offerings. If you’re looking to enhance your confidence as a parent or find ways of better understanding your children’s behavior, check out my new program, The Parenthood Puzzle Program. Click the button below to learn more and/or to sign up for my emails and other resources.
I’ve been writing down some thoughts on parenting and the experience of working to put the pieces together as we understand ourselves and our children. I’m calling it the Parenthood Puzzle. Check it out here or click on one of the most recent posts to read more.
A formal anniversary reminds us to pay attention with intention, to be aware of the types of memories that might be impacting us on a February afternoon, in contrast to noticing the azaleas in bloom or the large puddles on the street, both clues which might be too subtle for our busy conscious brains, but may be just enough for our subconscious to react to.
It feels like everything we do these days involves a risk assessment. Activities that we used to not give a second thought to now require careful calculations and choices we never thought we’d need to make are now thrown in front of us like a menu of bad options. Lately, I’ve found myself wanting clarity - wanting someone to just tell me what to do. And I don’t think I’m alone in this.
A few specific activities or strategies you might try with your kids as they go back to school or daycare, along with what different behaviors you might see and how you can understand them.
It’s been a long three months of impromptu homeschooling aka more screen time than we ever thought possible, but finally many of the daycares and preschools in the Bay Area are starting to reopen, and parents are wondering what to expect as they prepare to send their children back to school.
You may have known what you signed up for when you became a parent, but there have been numerous moments during my parenting experience that have not been what I signed up for.
If you’re like me, you know what you’re “supposed” to do. You’ve read books and/or spent hours searching for answers, talking to people, commiserating with other parents. And maybe you’ve even tried some of the things you’ve read about. And maybe, if you’re lucky, some of those things have worked. I’m not interested in telling you what you should try or what you’re supposed to be doing.
