I have been providing individual and group psychotherapy in Seattle as a licensed psychologist for the last ten years.   After graduating from the University of Montana with a PhD in Clinical Psychology, I completed a one-year post-doctoral fellowship in psychosocial rehabilitation at the VA hospital in Palo Alto, providing cognitive-behavioral therapy for bipolar disorder and psychotic disorders.  Eager to return to the Pacific Northwest, I moved to Seattle for a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) at the Evidence Based Treatment Centers of Seattle (EBTCS).  I later became a staff psychologist at EBTCS, primarily within the DBT clinic.  Besides providing individual DBT, I led numerous skills training groups to adults and families where I taught mindfulness, communication, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance skills.  I also worked in Marsha Linehan’s lab at the University of Washington (the BRTC) both as a research therapist and as a supervisor to graduate students. 

In my years as a therapist, I have enjoyed helping people become more present to their lives, more accepting of themselves, and more aware of their emotions and their values.  I have observed amazing transformation in clients.  It is an honor when people allow me to be present to their pain, their joys, and their successes.

After taking a six-month break from work to travel, garden, cook, and be helpful to the people that I love, I started my private practice in Seattle.  While traveling through the Mediterranean,  I saw the wisdom in how the locals lived – savoring good and fresh food, regularly connecting with family, friends, and neighbors, and enjoying the simple pleasures in life by strolling down the street or enjoying a cappuccino in the cafe.  Since then, I have dreamed of promoting a Mediterranean lifestyle for people back home.  When I’m not practicing therapy, I am doing my best to be like a local from the Mediterranean or scheming how to get others to live this way.