A term used by Jung and Freud, Depth Psychology is essentially a way of seeing, relating to, and understanding our psyche (derived from Greek meaning “soul”) individually, collectively, and relationally. We tend to soul through exploring our unconscious through somatic or body symptoms, dreams, desires, language, metaphors, symbols, synchronicities, art, timeless myths, stories, movie themes and characters, our patterns of relating, our emotional reactions and triggers; and much more.

“Depth psychological approaches to psychological suffering attempt to help individuals become aware of what has been cast out of consciousness or not yet able to be known. Healing is associated with allowing what has been repressed, rejected, denied or ignored to come forward so that the person can understand, explore its significance and integrate it, allowing for a transformation in consciousness.”
~Pacifica Graduate Institute

Why Depth Psychology?
Our rational, conscious mind is only roughly about 10% of our operational mind, which is why cognitive methods alone are limited. The other 90%, which includes our emotional and instinctual circuitry, is subconscious. It’s what we need to address and explore if we want to bring about change and transformation.

Shadow Work
Just like the moon is bright on one side and dark on the other, and as we have daytime and night time, we have a bright shiny aspect of our personality we are willing to show to the world, and another side that stays hidden. The hidden side, or "shadow side" is not bad, though often judged that way. It is the repository of our unconscious, which includes the disowned, critcized, and judged aspects of self (the stuff we don't like, we're afraid of, or don't want everyone to see) but it also includes our untapped potential. The more split off the shadow is the more it can erupt or pop in at "inopportune times." Shadow work is invaluable because it helps us accept ourselves, others, and our collective humanity. It decreases anxiety, helps us evolve, develop our potential, and feel integrated and whole, which helps our relationships and careers and health and just about everyting else.


Dream analysis
Dream analysis or dream tending is a fascinating and effective depth psychological tool that I often integrate into session work to bring about new insight and understanding. Dreaming is essential to our health and well-being. Generally we dream every night, and regardless of whether or not we remember, they are a helpful way our psyche processes through and digests the emotional dynamics of the day. However, when remembered, dreams can provide us powerful material from our subconscious and collective unconscious for gaining deeper insights, understanding, and guidance about what is going on in our lives at a deeper level. Though you might initially find some dreams confusing or weird, dreams speak quite clearly and relevantly and can become one of your most valuable tools when you begin to pay attention and learn how to work with them. I encourage my clients to bring their dreams in to session on a regular basis.

To get started, buy yourself a new notebook solely for dream journaling and keep it open to a fresh page at your night table along with a working pen. Before you go to sleep each night, ask for a dream to come to you, perhaps about an issue or concern you are dealing with. There is a strong likelinhood that your invitation to your subconscious will bring forward a dream to your consciousness within a few days. Write down whatever you remember as soon as possible. Bring it in to session and we can begin the soul-honoring process of exploring.

Integrated into my overall approach to helping is a somatic perspective. Somatic approaches, which bring attention to the experience and shifts felt in the body, help with integration of the self, fostering resilience and emotional regulation, healing previous traumas, and can facilitate awakening intuition and spiritual connection.

There are a variety of somatic modalities and practices that I draw from and integrate, including mindfulness approaches, the sensorimotor and somatic approaches of Dr. Pat Ogden, Dr. Steven Levine, the research of Dr. Stephen Porges and many others.

One effective practice not as widely known in the psychotherapy world is Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET), which uses a synergistic combination of applied kineisiology (AK), acupressure and elemental meridians from Traditional Chinese Medicine, and somatic psychology.

Emotions such as fear, anger, grief, and many others can negatively affect us long after the original event that caused them. Often we do not fully digest, process, nor integrate the emotions of the traumatic event and we become unconsciously conditioned, the unprocessed emotions and conditioning stored within our circuitry. Thus, we can find ourselves with a range of charged feelings, emotional dysregulation, unexplained aversions or phobias, self-sabotaging behaviors or blocks, and many chronic physical problems.

With the application of NET as well as other somatic techniques, I can help you to safely relieve the level of stress and emotional reactivity associated with those reactions, as well as begin the process of releasing old stuck emotional patterns and conditioning. The process helps us to be in the present and accept "what is." Clients describe feeling "calmer," "lighter,""more centered," and "as if a heavy weight has been lifted off." They often report that they feel freer to make decisions, take a desired action, and notice feeling more present and grounded when facing previously triggering situations.

NET is a safe, natural and useful treatment tool for helping you become congruent with your desired goals and increase your awareness of self-limiting or sabotaging thoughts and behaviors. NET also is effective in helping athletes, performers, artists, test takers, college students etc. decrease and manage their performance anxiety, move past blocks, and become congruent with their vision of success.

Chronic pain, illness, and other physical symptoms can be safely explored and often transformed through somatic approaches. Somatic approaches are effective and complementary but not a replacement for medical care.

Description coming soon

General health and nutritional coaching is included because what and when we eat, drink, exercise, sleep, etc. all have a HUGE effect on our mood and sense of health and well-being which directly impacts our relationships and interactions. Lifestyle choices and habits are a significant part of the wellbeing equation and essential to making progress in our self-development. Plus, many people pride themselves on being a support or caretaker for others but don't sufficiently prioritize taking good care of themselves.

Our daily habits create changes in our biochemistry and neurology, and thus affect our thinking, feeling, energy, mood and behaviors. For example, think back to what you consumed (or didn't) just before the last time you had a fight with a loved one, or couldn't sleep at night, or experienced brain-fog, or the last time your kids were bouncing off the walls. Or what about how you feel after a good work-out, yoga class, bike ride at the beach, or hike in nature?

Emotional difficulties are often expressed through the body in the form of physical sensations, symptoms, and dis-ease. Likewise, most illnesses and physical symptoms have an emotional component. In both situations, working through the related emotions can contribute to healing on both physical and emotional levels, just as healing the body can help heal the mind.

Are you passionate about genealogy or have you been curious about beginning to explore your family ancestry or DNA testing? Have you discovered any surprising information?

Through an exploration of your ancestral family system, you can develop a deeper understanding and sense of identity, culture, family patterns and influences, contextualizing your life in a wider perspective.

Sometimes people have experienced deep conflict, abandonment, or trauma in their family system which ripples into current intimate and familial relationships, personal fears, drives and behaviors. Some people uncover family secrets, DNA or relational surprises that may be challenging to reconcile and find it helpful to process in therapy.

Other times, people derive deep satisfaction and excitement in new discoveries but have no one to share it with who would understand the significance and excitement.

As a professor in family systems therapy with a personal passion for genealogy and intuitive ancestral healing, I provide support, guidance, and insight as we identify intergenertional pattersn, process any new surprising information, and facilitate growth and healing of current and past relationships.

How many times have you felt a hunch, but doubt crept in and you second guessed yourself, only to feel immediate regret afterwards when you didn't follow through on something you "knew all along?" So frustrating, right? I've been there too.

While I have been intuitive since childhood, there have been times in my life when I didn't honor it (and deeply regretted it) due to self-doubt, as intuition has often been devalued by our collective social-cultural left-brain conditioning. I am committed to helping my clients recognize, develop and integrate their innate abilities and strengths, which includes learning to trust their intuitive inner guidance system.

I help you identify the way intuition comes to you so that you can learn to recognize it and trust it as a decision making tool in your life. Intuition grounded with clinical psychological theory, practice and experience, is at work in every psychotherapy and coaching session.

Additionally, some people seek me out for more specific intuitive, spiritual, esoterically-focused sessions.

What is Art Therapy? Art Therapy is:

"an established mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. It is based on the belief that the creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight..." – American Art Therapy Association

Jou Tsung Hwa writes: "We often say 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' and today's scientists study how a person's visual mind is even more complex and powerful than their verbal mind. In many kinds of learning, words are merely a start for a person to build a mental picture for themselves. Using pictures directly to work with is very important in developing our whole selves."

You do not need to be artistic to participate. Just a willingness to play, scribble, imagine, experiment with different art and collage materials, and get involved in the process of it. What it looks like does not matter. Allow yourself to release expectations of a finished product and enjoy the sensation of the creative process.

Imagination and imagery offer tremendous healing power. Whatever our brain "sees", our physiology reacts to as "real." Images seen, created, or imagined can elicit feelings and complex messages, speaking to us from the subconscious and assisting us to bring into consciousness a greater understanding of ourselves and the dynamics and patterns active in our lives. An important component of healing is feeling understood and validated; images offer an opportunity to facilitate this deeper understanding.