My Story

I am a Licensed Psychotherapist, Licensed Advanced Alcohol & Drug Counselor, Internationally Certified Advanced Alcohol & Drug, Certified Narcissistic Abuse Treatment Clinician, Certified Life Coach & Recovery Coach, Certified Hypnotherapist, and a Consultant, with approximately 30 years of experience working in the counseling and recovery field in both the United States and the United Kingdom. 

I maintain a full-time private psychotherapy/counseling, life coaching, recovery coaching & hypnotherapy practice in Los Angeles, California where I collaborate with adults & teenagers, individuals, couples and families to support them in living their most self-actualized life.

I am incredibly passionate about the counseling and recovery field, and thoroughly enjoy gaining new certifications in therapeutic modalities to offer to my clients in session.  I realize that each client’s needs and backgrounds are unique, and therefore I am grateful to be able to draw upon a myriad of techniques in my “tool box” to meet the client where they are on their particular journey in life. I know from my own personal healing process that it’s not a one size fits all type situation, and understand the benefits of working with a therapist who can provide a variety of techniques to the client- both conscious based and unconscious based techniques.

I have facilitated various counseling groups related to eating disorders, grief, and chemical addictions (both for those struggling with addiction and for those impacted by the individual(s) in their life who struggle with addiction).

I have also presented at addiction conferences across the country on the following topics: shame, addiction, perfectionism, eating disorders, and self-care. 

Additionally, I am the co-founder of PieTherapyLA. Pie Therapy is a simple, fun and yummy introduction to baking with a therapeutic twist. This is a class that was “baked” by two well-seasoned therapists in the LA community, Sara Barthol and me, and one well known pastry chef, Clemence Gossett, to create a space for people to work on different personal challenges, such as anxiety and perfectionism, through the transformative experience of learning how to make pies.

These classes are offered to clinicians, clients, rehab residents, eating disorder center residents, sober living residents, and to corporate offices as a team building activity. Classes can be held at either the Gourmandise School of Cooking at the Santa Monica Mall or at a kitchen provided by the sober living home, partial hospitalization program, or residential treatment center.

My personal passions include hiking in Mother Nature, daily cold plunging in what I affectionately refer to as the “Dopamine plunge”, playing tennis and spinning, reading books in this field (especially memoirs), exploring new places (particularly different countries), playing board games, volunteering with animals and people, and spending time with my family- which consists of my husband, our teenage daughter, and our dog, Gypsy, who is the ultimate healer.

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