Psychotherapy in Pasadena
Thoughtful, relational therapy for individuals and couples who want to understand their patterns, deepen connection, and live with greater freedom.
My approach
Therapy is not about fixing what is broken. It is a place to become curious about the parts of yourself that have been difficult to know, accept, or express.
Together, we pay attention to the patterns beneath the surface: how earlier relationships shape the present, how you protect yourself when closeness feels risky, and what becomes possible when you no longer have to navigate those patterns alone.
My style is warm, engaged, and direct. I bring psychodynamic depth into a real relationship—one with room for humor, uncertainty, discomfort, and discovery.
Therapy can also be a place for imagination, creativity, humor, and play. As the psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott wrote, “Playing is itself a therapy.” These qualities do not minimize what is painful; they can help us approach difficult experiences from a new angle, loosen patterns that have begun to feel fixed, and imagine possibilities that were previously difficult to see.
Individuals
I work with adults navigating anxiety, depression, relationship struggles, identity questions, grief, creative blocks, or major transitions. We slow things down enough to hear what your experience may be trying to tell you.
Discuss individual therapyCouples
Couples therapy can help you recognize the cycle you get caught in, speak more honestly about what you need, and build a relationship that can hold both connection and difference.
Discuss couples therapyChildren
Through conversation, creativity, and play, I help children explore feelings and experiences that may be difficult to express. I welcome children navigating anxiety, family transitions, adoption, neurodivergence, identity, and questions of belonging.
Discuss therapy for your childAbout me
I came to psychotherapy after a career in art, design, technology, and academia—fields that taught me to listen closely, think creatively, and stay curious about how people make meaning. I earned my BA summa cum laude from UCLA and an MFA from Art Center College of Design, where my work drew from art, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. I later studied marriage and family therapy at Pacific Oaks College. I am currently enrolled in the one-year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program at the Psychoanalytic Center of California.
Before becoming a therapist, I led creative teams and worked as a professor of fine art with students from a wide range of backgrounds and identities. Those experiences continue to shape how I work: collaboratively, with openness, flexibility, and respect for the different ways people understand themselves and the world around them.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Start here
A brief consultation is a chance to tell me what is bringing you to therapy, ask questions, and get a sense of how I work.
Request a consultation by email In-person office · 16 N. Marengo Avenue · Offices 211 & 212 · Pasadena, CA 91101Please do not include sensitive or urgent clinical information by email. If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.