Hello!

I was born and raised in San Diego, and now I’m raising my own two kiddos here. In my free time I enjoy attempting to read between my children’s interruptions, adventures at the beach or the mountains, and bingeing true-crime documentaries. My husband is an elementary school teacher, and our sweet pets, Shadow the mutt, Stella the kitten who appeared in our yard, and Cow the guinea pig, round out our little family. I’m a clinical social worker and have been working with families in some capacity since 2006.

I graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree from California State University San Marcos in 2009, smack dab into the middle of the Great Recession. I started volunteering on a domestic violence and sexual assault crisis hotline, and eventually worked my way up to a full-time employee. I ended up working in many capacities with survivors of domestic violence for over a decade, including crisis intervention, long-term case management, running a psychoeducational support group, and facilitating trainings to certify others as domestic violence counselors.

I put off grad school for a long time because I was afraid of it, but in 2018, I graduated from USC with my MSW. For my internship, I was placed at a therapeutic k-12 school for kids with severe mental and behavioral health challenges. I was the first intern to ever be offered employment as a pre-licensed clinician, and continued working at the elementary school for two more years while I worked towards my LCSW. During this time, I worked closely with children and families as they faced a myriad of issues, including Autism Spectrum, ADHD, Oppositional Defiance, and trauma. My clients varied greatly in severity of behaviors and level of functioning, and I was amazed to see how beneficial play therapy techniques were to every single one of my clients. I began pursuing certification as a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) and, after five years of education and supervision, earned my RPT certification in August of 2023.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, I left my job at the school to assist my own children with distance learning during the day, and opened this private practice for after-school hours.

My work is informed both by my clinical experience as well as my real-life experience as a parent. I am always grateful and honored when parents allow me to be part of the team, and together we can work towards improving the functioning and well-being of your family.

Credentials and Memberships:

• LCSW #99246, CA Board of Behavioral Sciences

• RPT: T6204, Association of Play Therapy

• Certified Positive Discipline Parent Educator

• Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance; Next Generation Yoga-certified children’s yoga instructor