I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Seattle, maintaining my private practice in Madison Park, close to down town Seattle.  I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, and my Master of Science degree at Seattle Pacific University, where I specifically studied Marriage and Family Therapy.  During my graduate work I conducted a research project with Dr. Karen Quek, PhD on the implications that power and identity have on family structure, marriages, and in raising children in collectivistic cultures. This work was later published: Gender equality during the transition to parenthood: A longitudinal study of dual-career Singaporean couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 28(7), 943-962. We presented this research at the National Council on Family Relations in Pittsburg Pennsylvania in 2007.

I have worked in the mental health and social services field for a number of years and in a variety of settings. I began practicing psychotherapy in 2007, spending close to 2 years working at Youth Eastside Services in Bellevue, Washington. Duringthis time, my work focused on the treatment of children and families, in office and school settings, addressing concerns ranging from anxiety to depression, sexual and physical abuse to parenting issues and adoption. I also worked for 2 years as a Mental Health Professional, and later obtaining my credential as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, at Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation in Kent, WA. At Valley Cities I offered services to families and children, but also provided a specific focus on infant and early childhood mental health. During this period I provided outreach services to Childhaven, a therapeutic daycare center for children requiring intensive intervention that focused on socioemotional development, utilizing family therapy and play therapy models. Currently, I am a board member of the Washington State Association for Play Therapy, and work to increase awareness, to both the public and professions, about the “healing power of play”. 

During my graduate studies, and after, I worked as an intervention facilitator and research assistant for Dr. John Gottman's Creating Healthy Relationships Research Project at the Relationship Research Institute. This was a 5-year government-funded research project studying an intervention for situationally violent couples and developed and deployed an innovative and ground-breaking curriculum for couples under the clinical supervision of Dr. Julie Gottman. From 2008 – 2010, I co-facilitated multiple 22 week long intervention groups for couples experiencing significant conflict within their relationships. As a research interviewer, I also interviewed and assessed couple conflict in the homes of participants in King and Pierce County. During this period, and beyond, I have continued my studies in Gottman Method Couples Therapy and am completing my certification to become a Gottman Certified Couple’s Therapist.