Psychotherapy
Where Therapy Begins…
The call to begin therapy usually begins with a difficulty of some kind: emotional suffering, existential uneasiness, relationship challenges, experiencing the effects of trauma, and other crises mild or severe. Something hurts or feels wrong, and this is a signal that something is calling for care and attention.
Our contemporary word “psychotherapy” comes from the Greek roots psyche (soul) and therapeia (healing). Psychotherapy is a place for care of the soul, where the practice of patient curiosity and loving attention can create conditions that allow the deeper, and often hidden, roots behind our sufferings to gradually reveal themselves in order to heal and transform.
My Approach to
Depth Psychotherapy…
My approach to therapy rests on the cultivation of a warm and accepting atmosphere, welcoming all parts of you so that they may begin to feel the level of safety needed for receiving attention and care.
My practice is informed by my training in the tradition of depth psychology. Put very simply, depth psychotherapy proceeds from an acknowledgement of the presence and role of the unconscious in the therapeutic encounter. The unconscious refers to parts of ourselves of which we typically remain unaware, yet influence our behaviors, motivations, habits, perceptions or reactions. Psychotherapy can be an aid toward making conscious what is unconscious.
This approach means that I hold you, and the fullness of your inner world, with a symbolic attitude, sensing into deeper meanings and themes underlying the dominant patterns and sufferings in your life. While the orientation toward healing is a central part of psychotherapy, this is only half of the picture; psychotherapy also orients toward bringing forth your aliveness and supporting the unfolding of your authentic expression.
I do not follow a systematic, manualized approach to psychotherapy. My approach is always initially nondirective. We begin by making space and listening, together, for what feels most relevant here and now so that we can mutually respond to what wants to emerge in our sessions.
Following the natural unfolding of the process, I may introduce other approaches, such as mindfulness, somatic awareness, parts work, (i.e., Internal Family Systems), relational inquiry, mindfulness, and parts work (i.e., Internal Family Systems).
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Mindfulness in psychotherapy is simply about opening more space in our awareness so we can more fully be with whatever is here in the present moment.
It is very common to push away or ignore what feels unpleasant, and cling to what is pleasant—even when we don’t consciously recognize that we are doing this.
Approaching the practice of releasing judgement and compassionately turning toward what is here, just as it is, can be a gesture of profound care for whatever is arising in experience right now, just as it is.
Paradoxically, this can also fully include simply being with the parts of ourselves that feel overwhelmed or unready to fully feel what is present.
I offer this description of mindfulness first because it can be a helpful foundation for all the other approaches listed here.
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The word “somatic” is derived from the Greek word sōma, simply meaning “body.”
It is safe to say that the body does not lie.
My approach to somatic work entails sensing and feeling toward a richer connection with the nonverbal layers of emotional experience expressed through the body. These layers of experience often hold a great deal of knowing and intelligence that the thinking mind is not always in touch with.
Somatic work often involves gently bridging between this somatic intelligence and the thinking mind.
My conception of the body also extends beyond the way it is generally thought of in modern culture. It also includes what I would call the “energy body.”
You don’t need to literally think of this as an invisible body of energy, though you certainly may if that suits you—indeed, many wisdom traditions have thought of the energy body in such terms.
However, you may also simply think of the energy body as a particular way of experiencing the body that opens up for us when we bring a certain kind of attention to it—an attention that is gentle, expansive, sensitive to subtleties, and supplemented by imagination in various ways.
If appropriate, I may introduce somatic and energy body awareness into the therapeutic process. This, like mindfulness, can be a helpful foundation for the rest of the approaches listed here.
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Parts work reflects an increasingly common way of understanding our inner worlds. This understanding views the whole of our personality as a grouping of many subpersonalities, or “parts.”
Some of these parts may be closer to the surface of awareness, others may go unnoticed. Our parts can be at odds with one another, wanting different things for different reasons.
A core premise of parts work is that when we engage in mindfulness and attend to the way our parts show up in our felt experience, we can embrace more of our wholeness and complexity, work through challenging feelings, and ultimately find more spaciousness, clarity, and alignment with our innate wisdom.
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I remember commencing my own Jugnian analysis, over 10 years ago. My analyst asked me about my dreams and encouraged me to share them during my sessions.
The first dream that I had thereafter appeared like random nonsense to me. There was no way, I thought, that this could be meaningful to my situation.
I ended up being quite surprised by the unanticipated meanings and connections that opened up when my analyst joined me in bringing patient and curious attention to my dreams.
Dreams invite us to shift out of our literal, rational, and linear way of understanding the events of our lives in favor of a more metaphorical, symbolic, and nonlinear sense of orientation. This can lead to the sense that there may be a more mysterious order beneath the surface of daily life.
While it can be fruitful to play with dreams by discussing them together and sensing into their metaphorical resonances—they can also offer a doorway into a more direct and present moment experience of imaginal attunement.
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The word “imaginal” tends to mean three things:
Not everything in the imagination is simply “made up” in the way modern culture tends to believe
When we suspend judgement and make space for the deep imagination, it can express its own autonomy and intelligence
The spontaneous imagery of the imagination is often deeply meaningful, communicating things that hold relevance both for our healing and for the unfolding of our innate potential
Engaging with somatic awareness and parts work often naturally unfolds into imaginal process. Dreams, too, can offer a valuable point of entry.
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The process of therapy can quite naturally evoke familiar dynamics, mirroring patterns that play out in your relationships outside of therapy, as well as dimensions of how we relate to others that we may be less aware of.
Psychotherapy offers a unique opportunity to explore these patterns from a place of honesty and care, allowing curiosity to unfold toward valuable insight into relational patterns in our life.
Wherever it feels important to bring more curious attention to what is happening between us in the moment, I’ll meet you there from a place of care.
Education and Training…
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, emphasis in Depth Psychology, from Pacifica Graduate Institute
(2023)M.A. in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness from California Institute of Integral Studies
(2016)Integrative training and practice at Sage Integrative Health
(2020-present)Training in depth and transpersonal approaches to psychedelic-assisted therapy from Sage Institute
(2018-2020)Ongoing clinical dreamwork consultation with Meredith Sabini at the Dream Institute of Northern California
(2018-present)Psychodynamic therapy training with Community Institute for Psychotherapy
(2017-2018)
Some Details . . .
Face-to Face and Virtual Sessions Offered: I am currently holding a hybrid format including both in-person and virtual sessions to suit your needs and preferences.
Fee: My rate for psychotherapy is $225 per session. I often have a limited number of sliding scale sessions: you may reach out to inquire.
Insurance: I practice out-of-network. You may speak with your provider to determine whether they offer coverage for out-of-network practitioners (you may also contact Sage Integrative Health to get support with this). In such cases, I can provide invoices for you to receive reimbursement—however, you are responsible for payment for each session.
Other Questions? Feel free to contact me.
Pre-Licensed Supervised Psychological Associate
I am currently a pre-licensed Registered Psychological Associate with the California Board of Psychology (94025795) working under supervision of psychologist Jason Butler (license number: PSY 26442).
Jason is a deeply gifted therapist, teacher, and mentor who brings a rare combination of mind, heart, and soulfulness into his work.
