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About Me I am a second-generation San Franciscan from a working class San Francisco garbageman family. I read books constantly to survive my childhood, and was drawn to queer spaces, radical politics, and social justice work as a teenager. Before I became a therapist, I was actively involved in radical mental health projects with The Icarus Project. I've had my own journey of therapy, plus ten years of sobriety, that took me from being intellectually-defended to finally figuring out what to do with feelings. In addition to my private practice, I am core faculty in the Community Mental Health program at CIIS, and have a special interest in school-based mental health. I spent seven years as a school-based therapist in San Francisco public high schools, and worked as a mental health consultant in elementary schools, studying the impact of trauma and systemic oppression. I am currently developing a model of psychodynamic school-based mental health in middle school. I am currently training in a relational-systemic model of family therapy at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York. I love teaching because: a. I am a nerd who would be constantly reading and learning anyway, and b. My students are amazing and their engagement in the classroom constantly challenges me to think better. I teach from a critical pedagogy approach that includes psychodynamic thinking, anti-oppression frameworks, lots of memes, and always a radical critique. In my free time, I drink boba and make jokes on social media. I've been working on a Freudian stand-up comedy routine. It's pretty easy: All you have to do is mention Freud, and everyone laughs at you. |
Education,
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M.A. in Counseling Psychology, CIIS
B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology, Minor in Gender Studies, Lewis & Clark College Associate Professor and Chair, CIIS Instructor, Coalition for Clinical Social Work at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (SF-CP) Former Director of Mental Health services at Francisco Middle School I provide training and consultations for school staff on understanding/working with trauma Completed the Dual Program at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York, NY Certificate in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, SF-CP Trained in Gottman Method Couples Therapy Program Committee, Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) Outreach Committee, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC) |
Interests |
Relational Psychoanalysis
Systems Thinking & family therapy models Radical mental health and alternative approaches to psychopathology Developmental trauma Adolescence Addiction Anti-oppresson work Freud jokes Dolly Parton |