I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of Washington, with a Master of Science degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Seattle Pacific University.
Experience
I have provided a wide range of psychotherapy services to children and their families over the past five years in community mental health, early childhood education, and early intervention services. I have worked with families and children from all walks of life, ranging in experiences, cultural background and heritage, and personal identities. My therapeutic focus includes dyadic sessions with infants to five-year-old populations and their parents or caregivers in supporting them, as they navigate through life challenges together. I also provide both individual and family sessions for children six to nine years old. Families I have worked with have experienced struggles with depression, postpartum depression, anxiety, grief, trauma, adverse stress, parental stress, relationship difficulties, life transitions, and emotional/behavioral and developmental related concerns.
My Approach
My approach to the therapy is strength based, warm, non-judgmental, and collaborative. In my work with families, I partner with parents and caregivers in determining goals to work on together, while utilizing the strengths parents and caregivers already have in their existing relationship with their child as a catalyst for growth, healing, resilience, and transformation in a safe and empowering therapeutic environment. I am intentional in my approach to provide parents and caregivers an opportunity to slow down from their busy schedules, to observe and reflect through a combination of talk and play therapy to see, hear and understand their child’s emotional experiences and potential needs underlying his or her behaviors. I am also intentional in my practice in offering additional space to parents and caregivers for reflection and introspection to support their wellbeing as individuals, and within their roles as parents and caregivers. The theoretical orientations I use includes an integrated approach using child parent psychotherapy, solution focused, psychodynamic, experiential and family system models of therapy. My therapeutic approach is also informed by perinatal mental health, maternal and paternal mental health and play therapy modalities. The therapy I provide to families are always driven and centered around their specific life circumstances, values, and culture with respect to their personal identities as we begin our collaborative therapeutic work together. For each family that I partner with, the goal is always to empower parents and their children with improved quality of life, and relationship to each other to prepare for a health and thriving future together.