From a young age I have been fascinated by what drives people. I have been curious about people’s deepest desires and insecurities and how they affect a person’s personality and behavior. Due to my shame about my own personal challenges, it took me a while to realize how helpful psychotherapy can be. Once I embraced and accepted help for myself, I realized that I wanted to be a psychotherapist. As I stepped into that role, it became clear that this work meets me in the areas of authentic communication, emotional bonding, relational repair, and creative expression.
I graduated with a Master of Arts in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 2014. I received training in depth-oriented psychotherapy at the Church Street Integral Counseling Center in San Francisco for two years. I am now a member of the Bay Area Gestalt Institute (BAGI). As of 2016, I am licensed in California as a Marriage and Family Therapist. I had a private practice in the Mission District of San Francisco until the end of 2019, and I now practice exclusively online.
I grew up in Germany and have lived in the United States for over 20 years, 17 of those years in San Francisco. A lot of my personal growth work has been around processing the guilt and shame associated with the history of Germany.
One topic that’s really important to me as a therapist and as a human is oppression and privilege. I spend a lot of time thinking and raising awareness about racism, sexism, heterosexism, pronatalism, etc. I identify as a white, cisgender, heterosexual, childless woman. My pronouns are she / her.
Refuse to fall down
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you from lifting your heart
toward heaven
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.
–Clarissa Pinkola Estés