Like most of the people I work with, my own life has included profound challenges and unexpected turning points.

Originally from New York, I grew up as the oldest of three, with young parents barely old enough to vote let alone raise children.  Their divorce when I was 9 years old had an imprinting effect on me, as trauma does to children.  I learned to cope by becoming overly competent, productive, organized, analytical, helpful; yes, a parentified child.

These qualities helped me to survive the confusion and chaos as a kid. As I grew into early adulthood, I started a career in the corporate world. 

I also found a creative outlet while performing professionally as a wedding singer on the weekends. 

From the outside, my life looked full and successful—but inside I felt a deeper calling to something more meaningful on many levels.  I knew the corporate environment did nothing for my soul.  And personally, I was discovering that I did not fit the traditional hetero-normative social model I was immersed in living on Long Island. 

That inner pull eventually led me to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I found the open space to explore all the parts of me.  

Professionally I found an education and then a career in psychology.  Personally, I embraced the fluidity of my sexual identity in one of the safest place in the US for one to explore this.

I earned my graduate degree in Marriage and Family Counseling from San Francisco State University in 1992, and then began my work as a licensed therapist.

In 2000, my daughter was born, and shortly thereafter, the tragedy of 9/11 rocked the entire world.  Life offered an opportunity by opening another door, and Naples became our destination for the next chapter my family’s life.

That was in 2003, and since then, life has brought its share of difficult experiences—divorce, loss, illness and death, along with other several life-altering crises. 

While excruciating at times, these experiences became some of my greatest teachers. They helped to deepen my understanding of the potency of self-compassion and self-regulation combined with a connection to my Higher Power, to help me heal, grow, connect, and find peace.  Yes, peace, even in the face of such intense pain.

Today, I bring both professional licensing and training (most significantly Relational Life Therapy, Parts Work [Inernal Family Systems or IFS], and Trauma & Nervous System Regulation), along with my lived experience (of almost 64 years!) to my work.

With all of this as a background, I help individuals and couples do more than survive. 

I help them remember who they are. 

I help them express their highest purpose. 

I help them connect, inside with themselves, and outwardly with their loved ones. 

I help them find the peace within that can help mitigate the pain that comes simply from being human.

You don’t have to do it alone.

Let’s see if I can help you too.