3-STEP HEALING PROCESS

Healing doesn’t start with feeling—it starts with understanding.

The process I use in my therapeutic approach is the same one that has helped me heal from a lifetime of trauma, shame, anxiety, depression, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and workaholism. Therapy moves through three essential phases—not in always in a straight line, but in a way that honors the natural, cyclical nature of healing. We may revisit each phase again and again as deeper layers reveal themselves.

  • The clients that gravitate toward working with me are deep thinkers, high achievers, and incredibly self-aware. They’ve often spent years analyzing themselves (usually in talk therapy) but still feel stuck. That’s where we start—by using your intellect as a strength, not a barrier, to healing.

    We begin with psychoeducation—which means learning about the nervous system, trauma responses, attachment patterns, and the ways your brain and body have adapted to keep you safe. Through deep inquiry and insight-building, you’ll start to understand what happened to you, how it shaped you, and why you feel the way you do.

    This step brings awareness and validation—so you’re no longer gaslighting yourself or functioning on auto-pilot. Instead, you start to see yourself clearly, with compassion and context—laying the foundation for our next step, where the real healing starts to take place.

  • Once you have a foundation of understanding, we bring that knowledge down into the body. This is where we shift away from intellectualizing emotions and into feeling them as sensations—where healing moves from something you think about to something you experience.

    Through somatic therapy, nervous system regulation, movement, and bodywork, we work with and release stored trauma. Talking still happens, but there’s a lot less talking and a lot more feeling, playing, and getting curious. This is where real integration happens, where patterns shift, and where deep, embodied healing begins.

    It’s also super, super fun and interesting.

  • All that somatic work regulates your nervous system and deepens your connection to your inner wisdom. Clarity is no longer just something you know—it’s something you feel.

    At this stage, you’re no longer controlled by old wounds or survival patterns. You have more agency and choice–you can respond more than you react. This is where you begin orienting toward alignment and experiencing true vitality—where you know who you are (deeply, intellectually, and somatically), what you need, and how to move forward in a way that feels expansive and free.

MY STYLE & APPROACH

Deeply Relational, Super Somatic, and Kinda Woo

The way I work as a therapist is, first and foremost, informed by my own healing journey—by the deep work I’ve done and continue to do in therapy. Then, it’s informed by the formal training, education, and certifications that qualify me to do this work. My approach blends somatic therapy, inner child/parts work, nervous system regulation, plant wisdom, and energy healing—all grounded in trauma-informed, evidence-based practice. And of course, I bring in plenty of sarcasm, laughter, and space for all the emotions that arise along the way.

My private practice is built on the belief that healing is holistic. Trauma doesn’t just live in the mind—it’s embedded in the nervous system, held in the emotional and energetic body, and reinforced by our lived experiences. I believe that emotional healing is spiritual healing, and vice versa. Sometimes, healing looks like therapy, somatic work, and deep inner exploration... and sometimes, it looks like working with the wisdom of plants—because nature has been facilitating healing far longer than we have, and we could learn a thing or two. (Plus, research increasingly supports the efficacy of plants in healing—often more than psychotherapy alone. Go figure.)

Somehow (I know how), the way I work helps women untangle the past, regulate their nervous systems, and step into lives that feel expansive, fulfilling, and aligned.

If talk therapy hasn’t worked for you, if you’re looking for someone who can honor all parts of you (mind, body, and spirit), or if you’ve been thinking, “there’s got to be a better way”—welcome. I think we’d be a great match.

My Mission

I help women move from understanding to embodiment to clarity—blending science, somatics, and spiritual wisdom to get to the root cause of pain and create lasting transformation. My work is about safety, connection, and integration—so healing isn’t just something you think about, but something you live and feel.

My Vision

I envision a world where ancient wisdom and modern healing come together to support women in reconnecting with their bodies, spirits, and innate power to heal—both themselves and others; a world where women embody their wholeness, reclaim their wisdom, and rise as healers, leaders, and changemakers.

BACKGROUND & TRAINING

Getting a degree is easy. Doing the healing work is hard.

I firmly believe that the best therapists are those who have done their own deep healing work. A healer can only guide you as far as they’ve gone themselves.

In addition to 20+ years of personal psychotherapy, countless plant medicine journeys, and weekly supervision, here are some of the things that give me credibility in the Western world for doing this work:

  • Associate Marriage & Family Therapist
    California Board of Behavioral Sciences, #149677

    Master of Arts, Clinical Psychology
    Antioch University, Los Angeles

    Bachelor of Arts, Psychology
    University of California, Los Angeles

  • Beginning I, II, & III | Intermediate I, II
    Somatic Experiencing® International

    Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate
    Dr. Abi Blakeslee Intensive

    Trauma-Focused CBT Certificate
    The Medical University of South Carolina

    Certified Reiki Level I & II
    Attuned by Reiki Master Justin Randolph

    Certified RYT-250, Vinyasa & Yin Yoga
    SolSeek, Manhattan Beach

    Certified Plant Medicine Integration Coach
    Kat Courtney, Plant Medicine People

    • Somatic Experiencing® (SE)

    • Internal Family Systems (IFS)

    • Psychodynamic Therapy

    • Attachment & Relationally-Oriented Therapy

    • NeuroAffective Touch & Kathy Kain’s Somatic Approach

    • Embodied Integration

    • Somatic Yoga & Movement

    • Reiki & Pranic Energy Healing