About

I am a licensed clinical social worker from Portland, Oregon with over 25 years of experience providing therapy and advocacy to individuals and their family members. My areas of expertise include but aren't limited to: treatment of adult trauma survivors, understanding and working through grief and loss, understanding and breaking free of domestic violence, substance abuse treatment, controlling anxiety and feelings of helplessness, managing acute and chronic illness, understanding and navigating terminal illness (yours or a family members) and caring for relatives with dementia.

My approach is research based and solution focused. I utilize the following therapies: cognitive behavioral, dialectical behavioral, exposure, acceptance and commitment and family systems.
I've found that talk therapy without concrete strategies for change is not enough to initiate change.

My first step is always a comprehensive assessment undertaken with my client so that I'm able to tailor the treatment to the patient. I'm not your stereotypical therapist and I will challenge you to work hard and look beyond yourself to your family of origin as we work together to identify what's standing between you and happiness. Having said that, I also want to acknowledge that we are living through hard times with real reasons to be anxious. Sometimes it's not what happened to you when you were a kid, sometimes it's just Covid.

I'm straight forward, warm and funny. I'm an excellent problem solver when it comes to real world issues. I'm honest and I won't make you guess. I look forward to getting to know you.