Experience and Approach
Experience and Approach
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Background & Training
25+ years of experience working with children and families
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Washington State Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) #70105515
Certified Trainer in the Violet Oaklander Model of Child Therapy
Level 1 Gestalt Therapy Training
Informed by Jungian psychology and systemic family therapy traditions
Former School Psychologist, University of Washington clinic and Shoreline School District
Affiliations
Board member of the Violet Oaklander Foundation
CG Jung Foundation member
CG Jung Society Seattle member
AAMFT Member
APT Member
Sandplay Therapists of America member
A Foundation Built Over Decades
For more than 25 years, I have worked alongside children, parents, and families — first as a school psychologist in the Shoreline School District and then at a University of Washington clinic. For the past five years, I have worked as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
That path has given me a rare vantage point. I've spent decades observing how children develop, how families function under stress, and how the smallest shifts in understanding can create meaningful, lasting change. Becoming an MFT was a natural extension of this work: it allowed me to bring a systemic, relational lens to the individual insight I'd already spent a career building.
My approach is intuitive and nuanced. I don't believe in one-size-fits-all therapy. Every child, parent, and family system is different, and I bring my full attention — clinical and human — to understanding what's really going on beneath the surface.
My Clinical Approach
My Clinical Approach
My work is grounded in several complementary traditions, each contributing a unique perspective to understanding children, families, and the process of growth:
The Oaklander Model of Child Therapy — A Gestalt-based approach that honors children’s natural language of play, sensory experience, movement, and creative expression while strengthening their sense of self, emotional awareness, and capacity for healthy contact with self and others.
Gestalt Therapy (Level 1 Training) — Supporting present-moment awareness, authentic relationships, and the integration of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and experiences.
Jungian-Informed Perspective — Attending to the deeper patterns, symbols, and developmental journey that shape our inner lives, relationships, and evolving sense of self throughout the lifespan.
Systemic Family Therapy — Drawing on the foundational work of Virginia Satir, Murray Bowen, and Salvador Minuchin to name a few, I view individuals within the context of their families and relationships, recognizing that lasting change often occurs through shifts in the larger relational system.
Neurodevelopmental Lens — Informed by contemporary interpersonal neurobiology, attachment theory, and the work of clinicians such as Stephen Porges, Peter Levine, Mona Delahooke, and Dan Siegel, I understand behavior as meaningful communication that reflects a person's developmental stage, nervous system, and lived experience. This perspective emphasizes safety, regulation, connection, and co-regulation as the foundation for learning, emotional growth, and resilience.
Together, these perspectives allow me to work with both depth and flexibility—meeting a five-year-old on the floor through play and with an adult helping them make sense of unconscious material through sand tray work strengthening the connection with self and others building resilience and growth.
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