My work is integrative, with a focus on trauma, anxiety, and related patterns of overwhelm. I draw from a range of evidence-informed therapeutic approaches, thoughtfully combining those that best support your unique needs, therapeutic goals, and where you are in your journey.
All of these approaches can be effectively incorporated into secure online psychotherapy for clients throughout California. They include:
Somatic Approaches
"The body is our general medium for having a world." — Maurice Merleau-Ponty
The word soma comes from the ancient Greek word meaning "the living body." Somatic approaches recognize that our bodies reflect our thoughts, emotions, personal history, present circumstances, and lifestyle — including patterns of stress, anxiety, and other mental health concerns.
The modalities I incorporate include:
Somatic Experiencing®
"Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness." — Dr. Peter A. Levine
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is a gentle, body-oriented approach to psychotherapy developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine. As a trauma therapist, I'm grounded in the neuroscience and decades of clinical practice behind this work, which helps individuals heal from trauma, chronic stress, anxiety, and other experiences that can dysregulate the nervous system.
Rather than focusing only on thoughts or memories, SE gently works with bodily sensations, survival responses, and the body's natural rhythms. It recognizes that overwhelming experiences can leave us stuck in protective responses, making it difficult to feel safe, present, and fully engaged in life.
One of the unique aspects of SE is that it does not require you to relive or recount every detail of a traumatic event. Instead, we work collaboratively and at a pace that feels safe enough to explore difficult experiences without becoming overwhelmed.
As regulation develops, many people notice greater calm, emotional balance, vitality, and increased flexibility in responding to life's challenges.
Movement
The body carries an innate wisdom—we simply learn to pause, listen, trust, and follow its rhythm.
Movement is a gentle way of reconnecting with the body and noticing what we are feeling in the present moment. When movement arises naturally rather than being forced, it creates space for expression, exploration, and self-discovery.
It offers an opportunity to uncover what has been held within us—emotions, physical sensations, energy, and natural impulses. At times, this may be accompanied by breath, sound, or music, giving expression to what words alone cannot communicate.
As we listen to the wisdom of the body, areas that feel tense, stuck, or constricted often begin to soften and regain a sense of flow. Movement can help release tension, restore vitality, strengthen the connection between the mind and body, and foster creativity, authentic self-expression, and new possibilities.
Experiential & Depth-Oriented Approaches
Expressive Arts Therapy
Creativity is an innate part of being human. Yet when we hear the word art, many of us immediately think, "I'm not creative," or "I can't even draw a straight line."
In reality, creativity extends far beyond artistic ability. It is reflected in the way we solve problems, communicate, cook, decorate our homes, build relationships, and navigate everyday life.
Expressive Arts Therapy invites us to reconnect with this innate creativity. It is not about artistic ability, but about giving form to thoughts, emotions, memories, imagination, and parts of ourselves that may be difficult to express through words alone.
Sometimes our hesitation around creativity reflects deeper fears of being seen, making mistakes, being vulnerable, or letting go of control. Creative exploration offers another way of engaging with these parts of ourselves with openness and self-love.
Expressive Arts Therapy is well suited to online psychotherapy and may be especially meaningful for individuals navigating trauma, grief, chronic illness, major life transitions, and other emotionally challenging circumstances.
The expressive arts approaches I incorporate include:
Visual Arts
Drawing, painting, collage, and other visual media provide another language for expressing and understanding thoughts, emotions, memories, and what we have lived through, using images rather than words.
Voice
Humming, toning, storytelling, reading aloud, and vocal expression can help us connect with and give voice to what we are feeling.
Writing
Journaling, reflective writing, storytelling, poetry, and unsent letters provide space for reflection, emotional exploration, and making sense of our experiences.
Vision Boards
Vision boards use images, words, colors, and symbols to clarify values, intentions, hopes, and future possibilities while bringing imagination into everyday life.
Dream Work
"Dreams are the guiding words of the soul." — Carl Jung
Dreams offer a unique doorway into the unconscious, revealing emotions, inner conflicts, strengths, and possibilities that may not yet be fully recognized in waking life. We analyze dreams together, treating each one as deeply personal rather than as something to be understood through fixed symbols or universal meanings—always within the context of your own life.
We study the images, symbols, emotions, and stories that emerge in your dreams while also noticing the body's responses. A dream may evoke subtle shifts in breathing, physical sensations, or emotional states, offering another perspective on what it may be communicating.
Dream work is not about finding the "right" interpretation. It is an invitation to enter into a deeper dialogue with yourself, allowing insight, creativity, and new perspectives to unfold naturally over time.
Energy Work
Energy has been understood across many Eastern and Western healing traditions as an integral aspect of human life. Within my holistic approach, it offers another way of exploring the relationship between the mind, body, heart, and spirit, inviting us to experience ourselves as an interconnected whole.
For those who are open to this perspective, it may support a deeper sense of vitality, presence, and inner balance. When appropriate, it can complement psychotherapy as another avenue for reflection and personal growth, always guided by your comfort level and therapeutic goals.
Cognitive & Narrative Approaches
The way we think and the stories we tell ourselves influence how we see ourselves, relate to others, and make sense of our lives. Over time, these perspectives are shaped by our relationships, culture, life events, and assumptions, often becoming so familiar that we no longer question them — sometimes contributing to anxiety, depression, or chronic stress.
My work draws on principles from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Narrative Therapy to gently examine habitual thought patterns, limiting beliefs, and the narratives that shape how you see yourself, others, and the world.
Collaboratively, we create alternative perspectives, make sense of what has shaped your worldview, and develop new beliefs and narratives that better reflect your present reality rather than the behavioral buffers of the past.
Cue-Centered Therapy
Cue-Centered Therapy (CCT) is an evidence-based, trauma-informed approach that helps adolescents, adults, and couples gain insight into how overwhelming experiences can continue to influence thoughts, emotions, relationships, the body, and the nervous system long after the original event has passed.
The word "cue" refers to the internal and external reminders that activate learned responses. A sound, smell, place, facial expression, relationship, body sensation, or life event can evoke anxiety, depression, fear, sadness, shame, or distress, even when there is no present danger. These reactions are not signs of weakness—they reflect the ways our minds and bodies have adapted to protect us.
We map these cues, trace their origins, and build new ways of responding—rooted in who you are now, not the survival strategies you once needed.
Cue-Centered Therapy combines practical coping strategies with a deeper grasp of trauma, helping individuals and couples navigate life's challenges with greater confidence and a renewed sense of agency.
Relational Approaches
Approach to Couples Therapy
Relationships have the capacity to bring love, intimacy, growth, and belonging, yet they can also become places where persisting misunderstandings, unresolved hurts, unmet needs, and cycles of disconnection emerge. Often, partners are not simply reacting to one another—they are responding through histories, defense mechanisms, and nervous systems shaped by their past.
My work with couples draws on principles from Nonviolent Communication (NVC), the Gottman Method, attachment theory, nervous system regulation, and other evidence-informed relational approaches.
We work to recognize and shift the constructs that keep couples stuck, strengthen communication, express needs more effectively, navigate conflict with greater understanding, and rebuild trust, emotional safety, and connection.
Rather than focusing on who is right or wrong, therapy offers a space where both partners can feel heard and understood while working toward a more connected and fulfilling relationship.
Want to understand the broader philosophy behind how and why I bring these approaches together? See My Philosophy.
Ready to begin?
If one or more of these approaches feels like a fit for you, I invite you to reach out. I offer online psychotherapy throughout California and a free 15-minute consultation to answer your questions and see if we're the right fit — no obligation to continue.
Curious how I approach culture, identity, and belonging in this work? See Culture, Acculturation & Diversity.