Background and Education

I earned my Bachelors Degree in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.  My Masters and Doctorate degrees are in Clinical Psychology from a specialty child-family track within the Psychology Department at MSU.  Thus, my advanced education had a developmental and familial relationship emphasis that I use in my practice today. 

My internship training was at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Palo Alto where I worked with Veterans and their families who suffered from both childhood and war zone trauma, as well as those who suffered from significant addictions.  Subsequently, I had a Post Doctoral position at Children’s Health Council/Children’s Hospital at Stanford.  Here I provided family therapy and supervised other professionals who were providing family therapy to their patients.  As part of this work I did therapy with eating disordered families whose children were hospitalized at Stanford.   

Subsequent to my work at Stanford, I was hired back as a Staff Psychologist and Clinical Coordinator at the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress at the Palo Alto VA.  Here I worked with the veterans and their families directly and supervised and trained clinical staff as well.

I moved on to become the Chief of the Alcohol and Drug Program at Kaiser Santa Clara and then developed and worked as the Program Director of the Regional Chemical Dependency Recovery Program that was also housed at Santa Clara Kaiser.

I have attended The Mindsight Institute in Los Angeles, California, since 2003, attending intensive workshops and monthly advanced seminars led by Daniel Siegel, M.D., focusing on the science and application of Interpersonal Neurobiology to theories of human development and the practice of psychotherapy and parenting.  I also earned an Early Childhood Certificate, focused on work with couples who were bringing home a new born child, from the Gottman Institute in Seattle Washington.

Professional Affiliations

American Psychological Association
California Psychological Association
Santa Clara County Psychological Association
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
International Academy for Law and Mental Health