Biography

Education

I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from U.C. Irvine, and later went on to complete a Master of Science degree in Clinical Psychology at Cal State Fullerton. As part of my master’s degree program, I completed my thesis that involved 300 participants. The study assessed the level of intimacy in close female friendships based on the attachment style, level of interpersonal trust and negative mood regulation of friend partners.

Training

To become a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, the State of California requires completion of 3,000 internship hours and two licensing exams. I was fortunate to intern at three training locations. At Straight Talk, a non-profit therapy agency, I worked with children, adolescents, couples, and adults. I was a lead therapist for parenting classes and a co-therapist of adolescent anger management groups.

Through this agency’s school outreach program, I also worked as a therapist at a high school and elementary school. My following internship was at a substance abuse residential treatment program, where I conducted group therapy sessions with clients struggling with addiction.

My last internship was at College Hospital in Costa Mesa, which serves those suffering from a wide range of mental health challenges. I was the group therapist for the inpatient adult and adolescent sections of the hospital, as well as in the partial hospitalization program.

Experience

Licensed as an MFT in 2008, I became a case manager for the partial hospitalization program at College Hospital. The partial hospitalization program is a day program for the treatment of clients experiencing acute and long-term mental health symptoms.

After that, I taught as an adjunct professor at Phoenix University in the Psychology Master of Arts program. 

I took time away from being a therapist to care for my young children, but once they became older, I decided to open my own therapy practice. I now see clients at my office in Laguna Hills.