For nearly two decades, I've sat with people in some of the hardest and most meaningful moments of their lives: a new diagnosis, a loss that changed everything, the slow work of healing old wounds, the search for who they really are. I've had my own practice in Ithaca since 2013, and alongside it I've worked in hospitals, a cancer center, mental health clinics, a university counseling center, and the VA.
I'm a psychologist by training, with a PhD in counseling and school psychology from the University at Buffalo's APA-accredited program, and I'm licensed in New York as both a marriage and family therapist and a mental health counselor. I'm also a certified yoga and meditation teacher, and I often bring the body into our work together. I work with individuals, couples, and families.
My Background
My path began at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, offering music therapy groups and bedside support to hospitalized and seriously ill children and teens. I went on to earn a master's in clinical mental health counseling, specializing in marriage and family therapy, at Northeastern Illinois University. My early years as a family therapist were spent in community agencies, including a child advocacy center and a treatment program for families affected by sexual abuse.
Alongside my practice, I've worked at the SUNY Buffalo State counseling center, at Buffalo Psychiatric Center with people living with serious mental illness, and in psychosocial oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, supporting patients and families through diagnosis, survivorship, and end-of-life care.
I completed my doctoral internship in health psychology at the Bath VA Medical Center, working with veterans facing PTSD, substance use, and chronic illness, in settings from residential treatment to hospice care. Each of these places taught me something about how people survive what once felt unsurvivable, and how they grow.
A Focus on Trauma
Across every setting, one thread has run through my work: helping people heal from trauma and complex trauma. I work with interpersonal trauma, including childhood abuse and neglect, sexual trauma, domestic violence, and relational wounds, as well as medical trauma and war and military trauma. Some trauma is less visible, like the slow weight of grief or long-term stress, and it deserves the same care. I've seen again and again that people can heal from what once overwhelmed them, and that healing often opens the door to a fuller, more authentic life.
Some of the deepest wounds come not from a single event but from not being accepted for who you are. For many LGBTQIA+ people, that means living with rejection, discrimination, and the pressure to hide parts of themselves to belong. I've walked alongside many people through this, including in university counseling settings. I also support people healing from religious trauma, whether from shame-based teachings, rejection by a faith community, or the loss of beliefs that once held their world together. And I work with refugees and first-generation individuals who straddle two worlds, holding family, culture, and sometimes generations of trauma alongside life in a society that doesn't always make room for them.
Beyond trauma, I work with anxiety, depression and mood disorders, relationship struggles, life transitions, spiritual exploration, and questions of purpose and meaning.
How I Work
Therapy with me is depth-oriented and integrative. Rather than applying one method to everyone, I draw on the approaches that fit you and what you're working on:
Psychodynamic and depth-oriented therapy: exploring the patterns, early experiences, and unconscious material that shape how you feel and relate today.
Existential therapy: making space for life's big questions about meaning, freedom, mortality, and how you want to live.
Trauma-informed care: a steady, safety-first approach to healing trauma, drawing on somatic work, IFS, and EMDR-informed techniques, at a pace that respects your nervous system.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): getting to know the different parts of you, including the protective ones, with curiosity instead of judgment.
Somatic and polyvagal-informed work: listening to your body and nervous system, so you can feel safer and more settled from the inside out.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT): for couples, understanding the emotional patterns beneath conflict and building a more secure bond.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): making room for difficult feelings while moving toward what matters most to you.
Mindfulness and contemplative practice: cultivating present-moment awareness and a kinder relationship with your own mind.
Mind, Body & Spirit
Healing is about more than symptom relief. It's about coming home to yourself: reconnecting with meaning, with your body, and with trust in your own inner wisdom. As a certified yoga and meditation teacher, I weave in mind-body awareness, contemplative practice, and spiritual exploration whenever it serves you.
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Thoughtfully integrated, psychedelic work can be a powerful catalyst for healing and inner reconnection. In 2025, I completed an eight-month postgraduate certificate in psychedelic-assisted therapies through Naropa University's Center for Psychedelic Studies, and I offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP), along with preparation and integration support. I bring the same care and clinical rigor to this work as to everything I do, helping you explore your inner world with safety, curiosity, and intention.
Learn more about psychedelic-assisted therapy →
Research, Teaching & Supervision
Research has been an important part of my work. At Cornell University's Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery, I directed the program's studies, mentored a student research team, and co-authored trainings and fact sheets for clinicians and youth-serving professionals. At Roswell Park, I was co-investigator and project coordinator on a randomized trial of an online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program for women with metastatic breast cancer, which became the focus of my dissertation. My research on self-injury, trauma, and emotion regulation has been published in Psychiatry Research and presented at American Psychological Association conventions.
I also love supporting other clinicians. I've supervised master's-level counseling and social work students during their training, and I offer consultation to therapists early in their careers.
Who I Work With
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Adults (18+)
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Couples and relationships
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Families in all forms, including chosen family
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LGBTQIA+ individuals and communities
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Veterans and active-duty military
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Refugees and first-generation individuals
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People healing from religious trauma
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People living with illness, grief, or caregiving stress
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People seeking spiritual exploration or integration
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People preparing for or integrating psychedelic experiences
Whether you're carrying something heavy, standing at a crossroads, or simply longing to know yourself more deeply, you don't have to do it alone. My hope is to offer a grounded, compassionate space where every part of you is welcome. I'd be honored to work with you.