I have a heart that longs to help people who are hurting. Most of us have difficulty in finding our way in relationships from time to time. My calling is to walk along beside you and to help you find healthy ways to relate to and deal with people and situations in your lives. I am committed to the strengthening of marriages and families, and helping other therapists learn more effective ways to do therapy.

My life experiences, education, and training have equipped me to be an effective therapist. My formal education started at California State University, Fullerton, where I received my B.A. in Religious Studies. My graduate studies were at Loma Linda University where I received my M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy. I became a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT 20752) in July, 1985. I earned my certification in Emotion Focused Therapy in January 2006, and in March 2010, I became a certified Supervisor in Emotion Focused Therapy.

I have had experience with many different types of clients and issues. My professional experience started with Geriatric Mental Health counseling.

I then worked for CSP Inc., as a Diversion Counselor, counseling teenagers and their families who were involved in the Juvenile Justice System. After that I worked for Family Service of Long Beach as a Marriage and Family Therapist, running Active Parenting Today classes, facilitating therapy groups, and supervising/training trainees and interns for their state license. I worked for Family Service for 11 years. I then started working in Orange County at Counseling Connections and moved to Break Thru Counseling Center in 2003. At Break Thru I was able to pursue my certification in Emotion Focused therapy and recently earned my Supervisor certification.

I enjoy working with individuals, couples, and families. Since being licensed I have dealt with relationship issues which include conflict resolution, communication, parenting, as well as issues of bereavement, co-dependency, anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, and life transitions. I enjoy doing workshops for community and church groups, teaching master’s level students in marriage and family therapy, and supervising licensed and pre-licensed therapists in marriage and family therapy using Emotion Focused Therapy.