My Approach
​
Collaborative and Strength-Based
I believe in meeting clients where they are, emphasizing strengths while addressing challenges. My approach is collaborative and tailored to your unique needs, helping you gain clarity and confidence in navigating your personal and relational goals.
​
Reframing Challenges as Shared Experiences
For couples, I help shift the focus from “my partner’s problem” to “our shared challenge.” This perspective fosters teamwork, understanding, and lasting growth in relationships.
​
Non-Stigmatizing and Non-Pathologizing
I view conditions like aspergers, ADHD, autism, and bipolar disorder not as “problems” or pathologies, but as examples of neurodiversity—exceptional ways of thinking that we can celebrate. We all bring both strengths and challenges to relationships, and understanding our partner's unique language of relating unlocks barriers to fulfillment. I can help clients embrace differences and team up against the challenges they create.
​​​
​Part of my job is to recognize the issues that perpetuate the oppression, abuse and exclusion inflicted by systemic racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, and other kinds of discrimination, including against the LGBTQIA+ community. I work to learn more and to challenge myself and others when I see attitudes and behaviors that support bias, prejudice, intolerance, and injustice.
​
About Me
​​
With over a decade of clinical experience and a commitment to evidence-based therapies, I specialize in helping clients address the challenges of relationship difficulties, neurological difference, perfectionism, and other forms of cognitive and behavioral rigidity. My approach combines warmth, active collaboration, and cutting-edge research to meet the unique needs of each client.
​​
I hold a doctorate in clinical psychology from the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium, where I completed dissertation research at the Stanford Bipolar Disorders Clinic. My clinical orientation is rooted in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and I am intensively trained to provide Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). I wrote the much celebrated When Your Partner Has Bipolar Disorder (2021) and also hold certification as an expert Neurodiverse Couples Therapist from the Association for Autism and Neurodiversity (the AANE). I have always challenged myself to broaden my experience and have chosen to work in a wide variety of treatment settings, from community mental health, to managed care, to private practice. I maintain an active spiritual practice.
Before becoming a psychologist, I graduated cum laude from Harvard University, then worked for over a decade in the arts as a producer and stage director, earning a Master of Fine Arts from Harvard University. This creative background informs my ability to think outside the box, understand relationships, and tailor therapy to each client’s needs.