About

Hello and thank you for learning about me!

I am a California and Oregon state Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with over 30 years of experience in a wide variety of settings, working with differing populations and ages. I have helped others who are looking to start or maintain their healing journey or are experiencing obstacles such as depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, addictions and trauma (including multi-generational trauma). My current clinical focus is on individual adult men and women from various ethnic backgrounds. What has become abundantly clear to me, especially since working within a Telehealth format which reaches people far and wide, is that no matter where we are from we all have in common the needs for purpose, meaning and value in our lives.

Those who have worked with me on Find A Therapist know that I pay close attention to words, love metaphors, and use humor when it is appropriate to do so. My style is warm and actively engaging and my approach pulls from various sources including solution-focused, dialectical behavior, narrative, and experiential therapies.

I can't believe it has been 4 years already since I joined BH. I have developed a model "in honor" of this milestone. I hope it brings clarity to you as to how I may approach your situation. I look forward to meeting you:

Joy’s CHIPS Model©
… Chipping away at human problems

Cognitive Distortions - checking in on narratives
Communication - listening vs hearing
Comparisons - soul killer
Compassion - Kindness towards Self? Others? Regret & Resentments
Context - environment, culture, religion, health
Control - can/can’t (anxiety/panic, codependency, addictions)

Healthy Distractions - Skills & Tools
Honesty - transparency
Humility - gratitude? narcissism?

I - Am I making it all about me? codependency? narcissism?
I - Interpretations & Assumptions

Patience
Paying Attention - and Mindfulness
Petrified - including fear of feeling better
Physical - health, including its cause for MH issues
Projection - onto others & forecasting
Proof - of assumptions
Purpose

Self-Awareness
Self-Sabotage
Substances
Support System

"Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it."
― Aubrey de Grey
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”
~ Joseph Chilton Pearce