About Me

I am a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist (CBT) and Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in helping adults with mood issues (anxiety and depression) and life problems. I can also help with aging issues, relationships problems (including gay and straight couples therapy), grief, stress management, adjustment, and work/career situations, LGBT and sexual orientation issues, and life coaching. A graduate of the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium, a partnership between the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University and the Stanford University School of Medicine, I trained at Stanford with Dr. David Burns, the best-selling author of Feeling Good/Great, The New Mood Therapy. I also have been trained in Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs). Based on the medical model of care, the treatments I use are supported by extensive research and are on the cutting edge of effective therapies. In addition, I have been trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) by the EMDR Institute. EMDR can provide an effective treatment synergy with CBT, especially for patients with trauma histories.

A native of Hingham, Massachusetts, I lived in the Bay Area for eight years before returning to the Bay State in 2012.  I am currently licensed in both Massachusetts and California. I have worked at Kaiser Permanente in Vallejo, California and at Brigham & Women's Hospital, where I was a faculty Instructor at Harvard Medical School. I bring to my practice not only outstanding education and training in California, but valuable experience at a world-renowned and Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital. In addition, I have a vast and rich life experience which informs my treatment, especially with older patients.

Besides working at Kaiser Permanente, Brigham and Women's Hospital and teaching at Harvard Medical School, my clinical training has included a Post-Doctoral Residency at Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Medical Center in Marin County, California; a Psychology Internship at the County of Marin Mental Health Services in Greenbrae, California;  and practicum training at New Leaf Services (which was the largest LGBT mental health organization in San Francisco); and two years at the San Jose VA Outpatient Clinic (part of the Palo Alto VA Healthcare System).

Prior to my getting my doctorate, I wrote and published travel books for many years and founded Rum & Reggae Guidebooks. I began my work career in advertising in New York City.

License

Massachusetts Licensed Psychologist: No. 9711

California Licensed Psychologist: PSY 23772

Experience

Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center

Education

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology - PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium, Palo Alto, CA

Master's of Science (M.S.) in Clinical Psychology - PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium, Palo Alto, CA

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) cum laude - Tufts University, Medford, MA