FAQ

Individual sessions are 50 minutes.

Couples sessions are to be mutually agreed upon by the therapist and clients.

If you need more time, we’ll work that out.

You may contact me at any time via email, text, or phone call, and I’ll respond to your inquiry within 24 hours or the next business day.

If you’re having a life-threatening emergency, please dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.

At this time, I don’t accept insurance.

Why? Because insurance can be limiting. Insurance providers can limit your number of sessions, legally ask to see my therapy notes, and require me to give you a mental health diagnosis.

They don’t care about your mental health, but your mental health is my top priority.

You can ask your insurance provider directly about any possible out-of-network reimbursement prior to beginning therapy services. I can then provide you with a monthly statement or superbill to submit to your insurance provider for possible reimbursement.

You can text me to cancel/reschedule your appointments.

For cancellations 24 hours in advance, you may reschedule/cancel a consult or session at no charge.

No shows and cancellations less than 24 hours in advance will be subject to the full session fee. If you have two no-shows in a row without reaching out to me, then you will forfeit your time slot.

If more than 3 weeks pass without a session or prior communication regarding sessions (such as vacation, a break in therapy) then the therapeutic relationship will be considered terminated and the therapist will no longer be responsible for the client.

Generally my clients range from 20-55 years. I work with individuals, couples, groups, and high school juniors and seniors. I’m also LGBTQA+ affirmative, Poly-aware, Gender-inclusive, Kink-aware, Sex-positive, and Multi-cultural.

In the first session, we’ll have a conversation about your expectations and goals of therapy.

We’ll talk about what brings you into therapy and specific issues that you want to tackle.

Then, we’ll come up with a plan that works for you.

Maybe you’ll want homework… maybe not.

Sometimes, I’ll need to provide some psycho-education – a fancy word that means an explanation about a psychological process.

We’ll work at your pace, and I’ll encourage you to be as honest as possible with me.

I am trained in AEDP (accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy), IFS (internal family systems), EFT (emotionally-focused therapy), EMDR, Somatic Therapies (I am not a somatic experiencing practitioner).

Absolutely! I even have blankets.

Just know that I’m not the old school therapist who nods, says an occasional “Mmhmm,” and jots notes down on a legal pad. I’m going to interact with you, connect the dots, and get into your world.

I sure do! My preferred platforms are Zoom and Facetime.

It works just like regular therapy – except you may be sitting in your pajamas, and I might be wearing fuzzy slippers.

I get it. So much of therapy is the human interaction.

I am seeing clients in my office, and I do have a COVID release form for clients to sign.

I wipe and spray, and my office has a cleaning crew that comes in regularly.

Inner Child Work

As kids, we want to be loved unconditionally. We need someone to reflect all the wonderful parts of our little kid selves, so we feel we’re lovable, that we matter.

Sadly, this doesn’t always happen. If our little kid needs aren’t met and our parents neglected us, then the love, acceptance, and belonging we crave as adults can never be filled.

As adults, we may act out, engage in self-sabotage or destructive habits, and become controlling. Inner child work involves going back to those damaging stages of life and healing childhood wounds.

The inner child concept developed in the sixties and was put into the mainstream by the “guru of self-help,” John Bradshaw, who came out with a book called Homecoming – Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child.

Attachment Styles

There are four types of attachment styles – insecure, avoidant, secure, and disorganized. Like the inner child, these are based on your interaction with your parents while you were growing up.

If your parents criticized you for everything you did, as an adult, you might feel scared to do anything for fear of being criticized. And if you’re scared to do anything, you may decide not to do anything at all – and that could be considered “avoidant.” Of course, this is a simplified answer to a complicated process.

EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy, focuses on past disturbing events, as well as any other related events, and how they influence situations in the present to cause distress. It helps lessen the sting of the past so you can get on with your life.

I’ve successfully used the EMDR protocol with my clients and have witnessed some amazing results. However, EMDR doesn’t work on everybody. If you’re curious about it, let’s set up a free phone consultation.

Somatic therapy is a body-centered approach to healing stress disorders and trauma. The body’s innate intelligence is largely an untapped resource in psychotherapy because most therapists don’t know how to capitalize on it or don’t believe in it.

You know how you have a “gut” feeling? That’s body intelligence doing its thang.

A super smart guy named Bessel Van De Kolk wrote a book called The Body Keeps the Score, and no truer words have been written. Unresolved stuff gets stuck in our bodies and can come out the other side as hives, chronic pain, IBS, and so on.

Stress don’t play. I want to help you release it.

To stay relevant, training is important. Currently, I’m doing an advanced AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) training through the AEDP Institute and have participated in an IFS (internal Family Systems) training.

I’m a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, a RYT 500-hour Yoga Teacher, and the Co-chair of the Trauma Therapy Special Interest Group in the Los Angeles Chapter of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (LACAMFT).

My other therapy-related training/experience includes EMDR training through EMDRIA, certification in Psychoanalytic Exploration of Addiction and Eating Disorders from LAISPS, and Somatic therapy training in the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM). I am also trained in Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy through MAPS and currently work with KAP (Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy).

I’ve studied Individual. Family, and Couples Therapy at Southern California Counseling Center, and I’ve completed additional couples trainings: Inter-Analytic Couples Therapy Training at AACAST, an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy externship at IEECFT, and Level 1 Gottman Couples Therapy.

I also served as a surf group therapy facilitator for Sea Change Recovery in Santa Monica.

Therapists have to adhere to strict legal and ethical guidelines. I had to take a test dedicated to Law & Ethics, as well as another grueling 4-hour exam, in order to earn my license.

Laws in the state of California prevent therapists from having any type of relationship with their clients for two full years after the termination of therapy.

Occassionally therapy may require leaving the office to engage in a more experiential type of therapy. This will be discussed and agreed upon by the client and the therapist.

I’m not even supposed to acknowledge you if I see you outside the therapy office. Yep, I take confidentiality seriously.

In “therapy-speak,” we call sharing an anecdote from our personal lives “disclosure.” I will occasionally share something personal if I it feels relevant to the therapy. I am also a human being who likes to engage with my clients, and I think it’s important that my clients see me as such and not a blank-faced robot (there are apps for that!).