Senior Staff Psychologist

Additional Roles: Trans and Gender-Diverse Student Support Specialist

Education:
BA, psychology, minor in creative writing, Humboldt State University (2000)
MA, counseling psychology, Humboldt State University (2004)
PhD, counseling psychology, University of Iowa (2022)

Professional Interests: My professional interests are rooted in a desire to advance social justice, support emotional healing, and create space for hope, both individually and systemically. Areas that I have specialized training and experience include: working with concerns related to multicultural issues (particularly for individuals of mixed ethnic, cultural, or national identities), LGBTQIA+ related concerns, and trans and nonbinary identity; supporting persons with invisible/invalidated identities, neurodivergent individuals, student parents, first generation students, and persons in nontraditional romantic/sexual relationships; treatment of trauma, anxiety, sexual problems, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Theoretical Orientation and Therapy Approach: I am an integrative therapist that conceptualizes both pain and healing from a trauma-informed, multicultural, feminist, and systemic lens. My background prior to becoming a psychologist was as a licensed marriage & family therapist, which manifests in my current work in my emphasis on relationships, both with others and the self. In my therapeutic work with clients, I pull from orientations that are relational and developmentally based, such as psychodynamic therapy, while concurrently integrating action-oriented methods from multiple approaches (e.g., CBT, ACT, solution-focused, self-differentiation) to promote distress relief and lay the foundation for on-going stress/emotion management and healthy relationships.