I grew up in the midwest, and later went to Bowdoin College in Maine where I studied in English Literature. After graduation, I moved to New York City and then San Francisco where I was a free lance writer. I later attended The Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA, where I got my Masters and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

I currently live in SE Portland with my family and dogs, and work in my home garden office. 

Training 

While studying and working to become a clinical psychologist,  I accrued over 5000 hours of training, supervision and clinical work, all of which allowed me to work with varied and diverse peoples seeking relief from a broad range of issues. I was lucky enough to be able to learn from some truly gifted teachers and clinicians in psychology. I trained at University of California San Franisco at the AIDS Health Project where I focused on psychotherapy and people living with illness and stigma. I did my pre-doctoral training at the Child Trauma Research Project (CTRP) also at UCSF/General Hospital. I then completed my post-doctoral training at the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, where I was supervised by Dr Hal Sampson, Ph.D., whose kindness and insightfulness continue to guide me. 

I trained in Attachment Theory, Infant/Parent Psychotherapy, child assessment, Adult Attachment, empirically validated psychotherapies, Control Mastery Theory, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), as well as many other modalities. My training in couples therapy comes from the research and work of John Gottman, Dan Wile and Sue Johnson's Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) . I'm also incorporating EMDR as part of trauma treatments. I started working in a private practice setting in 2002 and I finished my dissertation on HIV+ adults in group therapy in 2003.