Background

I currently work as a licensed marriage and family therapist and chief executive officer at Blackbird Family Therapy, Inc. in Oakland, as well as Alameda and Contra Costa counties. I maintain my private practice through Blackbird Family Therapy, Inc. in Oakland as well. I work as a trauma and family therapy specialist as part of the treatment team at the Impulse Treatment Center in Walnut Creek, where my work focuses on treating people recovering from sexual addiction as well as their partners and children.

Blackbird Family Therapy, Inc. is a privately held for-profit social enterprise in Oakland that advances a mission of creating social change by providing high quality mental health care and promoting mental health training, research, and education through commercial pursuits. We contract with skilled, licensed therapists in private practice to provide community mental health as well as high calibre couples therapy. Blackbird Family Therapy, Inc. provides training to mental health and law enforcement professionals in vicarious trauma, and organizes therapeutic meditation camping trips for teens in foster care.

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Post Graduate Training & Theoretical Orientation

My clinical education in school was primarily psychoanalytic, though I am not a psychoanalyst. My supervisors and teachers shared with me their experience with Lacanian psychotherapy, relational psychoanalysis, and non-directed play therapy. I have a great interest in control mastery as well as Jungian theory and technique.

Francine Shapiro trained me to perform EMDR in 2005. My current clinical working model is based on the adapative information processing theory of EMDR integrated with my psychodynamic education. I have been trained by Joan Lovett in the use of EMDR narrative therapy with young traumatized children and adults. Ricky Greenwald trained me to use his highly effective MASTR protocol of motivational interviewing and therapy for adolescents and adults with conduct problems. In my work with couples, I draw largely from the work of John Gottman, Ellyn Bader and Peter Pearson, as well as Susan Johnson.

I trained in non-directive play therapy for traumatized children under the supervision of Mary Ruth Cross, a registered play therapist, and I am an active member of the California Association for Play Therapy (CALAPT), of which Mary Ruth Cross is a past president and frequent presenter.

I am currently enrolled in Peter Levine's three-year training program to become a certified Somatic Experiencing practioner, and I use somatically oriented techniques, including somatically oriented EMDR techniques, with all of my clients. I strongly believe that all lasting personality change and growth are matters of body learning and a felt sense, and in particular, I believe this is true of trauma.

I am currently seeking training in neurofeedback, dialectical behavorial therapy (DBT), and mindfulness based meditation techniques.

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Previous Life

Prior to my career in psychotherapy, I worked for many years in a variety of engineering and sales roles within the corporate software industry. I have an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Minnesota State University, Moorhead. I decided to become a counselor as way of giving back to those who have helped me and as a way of creating meaning out of the loss in my own life.

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