I live in Berkeley, which is on traditional Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone land. I pay the Shuumi Land Tax as one of the ways to acknowledge the history of this land and the Ohlone community itself. If you live in the East bay, I encourage you to do the same: http://sogoreate-landtrust.com/shuumi-land-tax/
I believe true health happens when we’re in full alignment with the unique genius of our natural selves, and when we lovingly redirect all of our energies to be in devotion to who we are on the deepest level.
My Path
I came to psychotherapy through art and the natural world. After earning my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts and Ceramics in Canada, I moved to the U.S. to study Counseling Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco.
During those years I helped facilitate all-women’s nature groups, co-leading multi-day wilderness backpacking journeys that included solo time, fasting, community building and personal reflection. I watched people come home to themselves in ways that lasted. Over time, participants began asking to work with me one-on-one. That grew into my practice today as a full-time licensed psychotherapist in Berkeley.
I also have a component to my work outside of my therapy license that is oriented around spiritual psychology and meditation practices. I founded and lead Sacred Bridge, a 501(c)(3) religious nonprofit in Berkeley, where I offer spiritual counseling, and nature-based ritual. This work is separate from my psychotherapy practice.
How I Work
Each person’s work with me is shaped around their own process, needs and orientation. I see you as an integrated, intelligent whole, and I draw on my many years of study in various areas to customize our work together to meet you in a unique and personalized way.
Main facets of my work are:
- Somatic, body-based therapy to work with the nervous system and help you feel safe, grounded and resourced
- Western psychotherapy and self-inquiry to understand patterns, relationships and meaning
- Breathwork and awareness practices that help you develop a strong inner anchor and build greater insight, capacity for love and wellbeing
- Energy medicine and subtle body work, used only when it fits and when you invite it
To bring more nervous-system regulation into my sessions, I completed a 2.5-year training in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy at the STAR Institute. That work also opened me to subtler levels of energy medicine, which I sometimes include when it’s appropriate.
What Informs Me
My practice is also shaped by many years of study in Tantric Buddhist perspectives, meditation and subtle body practices woven together with Western and somatic psychology. I have been honored to learn from First Nations and Indigenous teachers in Canada and South America, Beginning with being part of the Native American Church in Western Canada (2001-2008). From 2008 until present, I have studied, apprenticed and practiced Shipibo-Conibo vegetalismo. In 2024, I began learning from and receiving Initiations from Q’ero elders through Pakarina Wisdom. I am currently apprenticing through the Mamancunawa Tabaquero tradition with my teacher Ernesto Garcia Torres in Iquitos, Peru. This is an obscure yet powerful healing tradition that requires immense commitment and rigor, and yields benefits beyond measure.
Simultaneously, I’m in a long term study of feminine embodiment and Daoist practices with Tao Tantric arts. These use breath, touch and awareness to expand our capacity for aliveness and pleasure, and they are a direct way to healing, inner resource and deeper wisdom. I offer sessions outside of my MFT license that teach and support couples and individuals practices for Erotic awakening and Intimacy work.
My Commitment
I don’t see my work as separate from how I live. I consistently tend my own physical, mental and spiritual well-being through retreats, study, training and personal practice, so I can show up fully for the people I work with, and also live what I am teaching to my clients. My work and my way of living are cohesive and harmonious with one another, so that my offerings come from who I am and what I am cultivating within.
If this speaks to you, I’d love to hear from you.
Professional Training & Licensure
Licensure & Education
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, California Board of Behavioral Sciences (LMFT #104161)
- MA, Counseling Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy, California Institute of Integral Studies (2015)
Clinical & Trauma Training
- Grief and Trauma Counselor Training and Internship, East Bay Agency for Children, Oakland, CA
- Therapeutic Behavioral Services Training, St. Vincent’s School for Boys
- Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Intensive with Dr. Joy DeGruy, CIIS, San Francisco, CA
- Self-study of Peter Levine’s somatic approach to healing trauma
Somatic & Body-Based Training
- Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Practitioner Training, STAR Institute, San Anselmo, CA (2.5 years)
- Tamura Method Training (somatic psychotherapy techniques), Lafayette, CA (2018)
- Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, Mount Madonna Center, Santa Cruz, CA
Contemplative, Embodiment & Earth-Based Training
- Tao Tantric Arts Teacher Training, online and in-person intensive training retreat (to be completed December 2026)
- Sage Mountain School of Herbology with Rosemary Gladstar: distance course and herbal medicine apprenticeship, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
- Feeding Your Demons®, Kapala Level 1 Training, Tara Mandala Retreat Center, Colorado (2018)
- Ecopsychology Leadership Training, Wilderness Reflections, CA
- VITA Sacred Sexuality year-long course with Layla Martin
- “Sacred Sexual Woman” Daoist and erotic awakening practices, individual coaching with Freya McFarlane
