My Story

My path to this work

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My first job in the mental health field was as line staff at a residential treatment center for adolescents, helping them learn new ways of coping so they could return home. I loved the work — partnering with young people and their families to move through hard things together — and it sent me back to school to earn my doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

During my doctoral training, I completed four year-long clinical rotations across very different settings: bilingual Systemic Family Therapy at the Latino Family Therapy Center, CBT-based work with adults living with chronic mental illness at Hillview Mental Health, medical psychology in the Hematology/Oncology Department at Children's Hospital Los Angeles helping children and families navigate returns to school after cancer treatment, and a final internship at Azusa Pacific University providing individual therapy and psychological assessments.

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After graduation, I focused on trauma work in low-income communities, completing my pre- and post-licensure experience at agencies in Van Nuys and South Los Angeles. Both taught me something I still carry into every session: humans are extraordinarily resilient, and healing happens inside a good relationship.

 

What I do today

My private practice is fully online, serving adults across California from my Pasadena base. My work focuses on:

• Therapy for trauma, grief, adult ADHD, depression, and anxiety

• Psychological assessments for adult ADHD, adult autism, and immigration cases

 

My training includes EMDR, DBT, and grief-focused work, alongside trauma-focused therapy and attachment-informed approaches. I stay committed to evidence-based practice — the modalities I use have research behind them, and I keep learning as the field evolves.

 

I've also worked as a clinical supervisor for over ten years, training therapists ranging from newly-graduated associates to seasoned licensed clinicians, with a particular focus on supporting therapists who practice trauma work. Teaching keeps me sharp, and it keeps my own work with clients grounded.

 

How I work

Therapy with me is warm and direct. I create a space safe enough for you to go to the harder places, and I hold both nurturing empathy and honest feedback — because sometimes what helps most is being gently told what you already know. I keep my caseload intentionally small so you get real attention, and I'm bilingual (English and Spanish).

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For adult psychological assessments, my approach is neurodivergent-affirming: I don't treat autism or ADHD as something to be fixed, but as differences worth understanding clearly so you can move through your life with more self-compassion and better tools.

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Whatever brings you here, my hope is that our work together doesn't just help you cope — it helps you actually move.