ABOUT ME
I am a licensed MFT (Marriage and Family Therapist) and educator with a Master's degree degree in Counseling from California State University, Northridge. I have over 20 years of combined experience working with individual adults and teens, parents, and couples in private practice.
Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, I was a middle school and high school teacher (for the Los Angeles Unified School District) with a bachelor's degree in Speech Pathology and a Clinicial Rehabilitative Services Credential along a with a multiple- subject teaching credential. . I had the opportunity to provide parent education and family support to better address their children's special needs. During my years as a Spanish teacher, at El Camino Real High School, I participated in developing The Impact Program-- a program which was designed to provide mentoring and group support for students confronting a variety of concerns. Experiencing the success of this counseling program inspired me to return to school and formally study counseling .
While I was a graduate student I interned at Tarzana Treatment Center, where I was trained to provide counseling to clients who were struggling with chemical dependency. As I worked with families, I became increasingly interested in the area of family systems and couple's counseling. Consequently, I chose to also intern at the Phillips Graduate Institute with an emphasis on family systems. The training and eduction I received there served as springboard for the development of my couple- counseling style. I continued to further explore the couple's counseling process, which included studying the work of John Gottman (author of "The Seven Principles For Making Your Marriage Work") and Harvelle Hendrix (author of "Getting The Love you Want). Along the way, I encountered the teachings of Sue Johnson who pioneered the "Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) model." I find that the combination of these approaches, including improving communication provides the best results.
Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, I was a middle school and high school teacher (for the Los Angeles Unified School District) with a bachelor's degree in Speech Pathology and a Clinicial Rehabilitative Services Credential along a with a multiple- subject teaching credential. . I had the opportunity to provide parent education and family support to better address their children's special needs. During my years as a Spanish teacher, at El Camino Real High School, I participated in developing The Impact Program-- a program which was designed to provide mentoring and group support for students confronting a variety of concerns. Experiencing the success of this counseling program inspired me to return to school and formally study counseling .
While I was a graduate student I interned at Tarzana Treatment Center, where I was trained to provide counseling to clients who were struggling with chemical dependency. As I worked with families, I became increasingly interested in the area of family systems and couple's counseling. Consequently, I chose to also intern at the Phillips Graduate Institute with an emphasis on family systems. The training and eduction I received there served as springboard for the development of my couple- counseling style. I continued to further explore the couple's counseling process, which included studying the work of John Gottman (author of "The Seven Principles For Making Your Marriage Work") and Harvelle Hendrix (author of "Getting The Love you Want). Along the way, I encountered the teachings of Sue Johnson who pioneered the "Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) model." I find that the combination of these approaches, including improving communication provides the best results.