About Me: The Basics
I am a licensed clinical psychologist (PSY 20835) and a business coach.
As a clinical psychologist, I have over two decades of experience in mental health working with teens, adults and couples on a broad range of issues. As a business coach, I work with people in leadership positions to help them be more effective and feel more fulfilled in their work lives.
My office is located in the Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco. In addition to in-person meetings, I also meet with people by video and phone.
My Academic Background and Training
I received my PhD from California School of Professional Psychology and did my doctoral training in a number of different outpatient psychiatry and medical clinics at University of California, San Francisco and McAuley Neuropsychiatric Center, community mental health clinics and schools. I’ve had extensive training in psychodynamic approaches, an orientation grounded in the idea that our earlier experiences create templates that guide how we think, feel and behave as well as how we expect others’ will respond to us. I also have specialty training and draw from a range of approaches and techniques including EMDR, CBT. MCBT, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), positive psychology and variety of frameworks pertaining to habit formation. A few years ago, I completed a fellowship in Design Thinking at California College of the Arts (CCA) to enhance my expertise in a business coach. I believe there is always more to learn about the human experience and I place high value on continuing to expand and deepen by knoweldge by pursuing new training.
My Work Experience
I bring a range of work experiences that inform how I understand my clients and what I can bring to my work with them to help them live more fulfilling lives. I was a research psychologist at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for many years. Here, I focused my work on studies pertaining to the emotional and biological correlates of stress, depression, and a range of anxiety disorders. This work expanded my understanding of the mind-body relationship and the multifaceted effects that emotion and long term stress can exert on the body, behavior and felt experiences. I also taught UCSF medical students skills around communication, self care / physical and emotional wellness, and compassion. More recently, I’ve enjoyed consulting in digital health. Here I’ve co-led the development of a mindfulness app in a UCSF study and I provide expertise to health and wellness start-ups on user experience issues. Finally, I continue give back to the community mental health and had the honor of serving as Vice President of the board at Access Institute for Psychological Services for several years.
Prior to completing my PhD, I worked as a radio journalist at National Public Radio in Washington DC and as an Executive Producer and Vice President at an Internet media company in San Francisco.