Psychodynamic Therapy

I am interested in the formation of our ego structure, the organization of our personality and how we view the world. I am tuned into the presence of defense mechanism, how they protect us and why they were formed. I care about how our past experience shape who we are as people. I am tuned into the transference and counter transference in the therapy room. This means, what is happening between therapist and client and making meaning of behaviors and feelings.

I believe the family is our foundation for how we see ourselves, others, and the world around us. Attachment and internalized messages we received about our selves as children are carried out through out our lives.

Understanding how the long patterns of your life are reflected in the microcosm of your relationship with me can help make what seems abstract and subterranean startlingly clear and present. This can create space to process and reflect, and of course identify ways you might want to explore shifting those old patterns. I completed a yearlong training focused on psychodynamic work and received a Clinical Journeys Certificate from Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center in NYC.

I have received training in CBT and psychodynamic therapies in a variety of settings, including hospitals, outpatient clinics, and a university counseling center. I completed my pre-doctoral internship at Long Island Jewish Zucker Hillside Hospital. I completed my post-doctoral fellowship at Mount Sinai Behavioral Health Center.

I work from a psychodynamic approach to help you gain insight into how past experiences shape your present behaviors and relationships. Patterns and beliefs are adaptive to the environments we are in. They become problematic when they no longer serve the purpose we created them for. Understanding this context allows space for self compassion and growth.

Modern Psychodynamic approaches take in the developmental history and context of each person's life up to this moment. Understanding the self can lend information about conscious and unconscious motivations for thoughts, feelings, and behaviors manifested in the present. This approach can help you understand your patterns, develop awareness, and set the course for change in your life.

In my practice, I utilize a psychodynamic approach to help clients uncover and understand deep-seated emotions and unconscious patterns that influence their behavior. By exploring past experiences and their impact on the present, I assist clients in gaining insight into their inner lives, fostering self-awareness and personal growth. This approach aims to resolve internal conflicts, enhance emotional resilience, and promote lasting psychological well-being.

Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies: One Year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Certificate Student Society Member Volunteer Committee Member

In psychodynamic therapy, I help you explore the underlying causes of your emotional struggles by delving into your unconscious mind. We'll uncover hidden patterns and unresolved conflicts from your past that influence your current behavior and feelings. Through this process, you’ll gain deeper self-awareness and understanding, allowing you to address the root of your issues. This approach fosters emotional growth, helping you develop healthier relationships and improve your overall well-being.

Some parts of ourselves are hidden from our own awareness and become apparent only in the ways we relate to others: the impact we have on them, how we engage them, what seems to come up again and again. Because of this, I use the relationship we build as a window into your world–and as an agent of change in your life. With greater awareness of the underlying habits, patterns, and motivations that direct our lives, the greater your agency, choice, and freedom.

Our therapists offer their own eclectic approach, catered to each individual client, while also having a foundation in attachment based, psychodynamic therapy. We address current needs while also looking back at your past to relate where these patterns come from.

Why psychodynamic/analytic therapy? The here and now psychotherapy relationship opens a stunning window into past, present, and future; into the deep wisdom of the unconscious; and into a creative flexibility that brings more and more wholesomeness, freedom, intimacy, and flourishing of the soul. I have doctoral and postdoctoral training in various contemporary analytic approaches, and I practice from a liberatory, feminist, relational stance.

Specializing in psychodynamic theory, I explore the unconscious, revealing its influence on thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. By understanding past experiences' impact on present dynamics, clients gain self-awareness, promote growth, heal emotionally, and form more authentic relationships.

I believe that a warm and collaborative therapy space is the best foundation for self-reflection and for finding courage to make changes, while feeling supported and seen. In our work together we will approach the therapeutic journey from a holistic perspective, integrating a psychodynamic lens with a solution-focused process to achieve your goals.

In my practice, I incorporate techniques informed by psychodynamic therapy. This approach explores unconscious processes, childhood experiences, and relational patterns to gain insight into present-day struggles. By examining the root causes of emotional distress, we work collaboratively to foster self-awareness and facilitate healing. Through psychodynamic-informed techniques, I aim to help clients uncover unresolved conflicts, develop insight, and make meaningful changes in their lives.

Psychodynamic therapy involves the exploration of you past experiences, especially in your childhood, to see how these past experiences connect to the way you view the world. This could involve understanding the relationship dynamics you had with family and friends in your past, and how these dynamics inform how you view your relationships today.

I was trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the University of Chicago. Psychodynamic therapy, combined with other approaches, such as energy therapy techniques can be very effective in treating a number of conditions. That said, I don't get stuck on one or two approaches. That would be like a medical doctor who only prescibes penicillin. A good therapist needs a lot of tools in his or her toolbox.