For most of my career, I’ve watched the same pattern play out in the therapy room: a couple comes in because of a fight, a shutdown, a distance that’s grown between them — and underneath it, almost always, is something older. A childhood wound. A trauma response neither partner recognized as a trauma response. It’s rarely about the dishes.
My work is helping you see that pattern clearly, and giving you the tools to change it — without spending years re-living the past to get there.
My Approach
I specialize in working with couples and individuals healing childhood trauma within the context of relationship. In practice, that means I draw from:
- Imago-style communication — to help partners actually hear each other underneath the argument
- Attachment theory — to understand the wiring beneath your relationship patterns
- EMDR — to process trauma without requiring you to relive it in detail, session after session
- CBT — to build practical, present-day tools you can use between sessions
I’m licensed in California (MFC37840), Utah (5772650-3902), and Wyoming (LMFT-319), and I work with clients across California, Utah, and Wyoming — fully online, so this work fits into your life instead of demanding you rearrange it.
Why I Do This Work
This isn’t just theory for me. I’ve done my own extensive work healing childhood trauma — the same kind of patterns I now help couples untangle in session. I know firsthand what it takes to recognize an old wound running your present-day reactions, and what it actually takes to heal it, not just manage it. That lived experience is part of what shapes how I work: I’m not asking you to do anything I haven’t done myself.
Before focusing on private practice, I also spent years in community mental health — as a therapist, a clinical supervisor, and eventually a program manager overseeing trauma-informed care for children, families, and survivors of domestic violence at organizations including Hillsides, ChildHelp, and Shelter from the Storm. That combination — my own healing work alongside years of clinical experience across some of the most demanding trauma settings — is why I trust the process I now use with couples.
I opened The Center for Healthy Relationships because I believe the answers you need are already inside you — my job is to help you find them, not to hand you a diagnosis and a decade of homework.
Education
- M.S., Counseling & Family Sciences — Loma Linda University
- B.A., Psychology — University of California, Riverside
Areas of Specialization
Couples & Relationship Trauma · Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma · Attachment & Communication Patterns · Grief & Loss · Sexual Assault Recovery · Women’s Issues
How I Can Help
For adults healing from childhood trauma, I offer individual therapy. For partners caught in the same painful cycle, there’s couples therapy. If you’re ready for concentrated trauma processing, I offer an EMDR Intensive. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, learn more about relationship therapy in Los Angeles.
If your partner is the one carrying childhood trauma, start with Married to a survivor of childhood trauma.
Want to hear from people I’ve worked with? Read their testimonials. Wondering what the first steps look like? Working with me one-on-one walks you through the process.
Ready to start?
Schedule a Free Consultation
