Academic training

I have a B.A. in Applied Communication from the College of Charleston and an M.A. in Depth Psychology in Jungian and Archetypal Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Drawing on more than twenty years of psychology study and training, my work focuses on deep personal exploration founded on the principles of depth psychology.

Background

I grew up in Romania, and my experience coming of age in a post-Communist, developing country shapes my understanding of how abuse, fear, shame, and hunger damage dignity. My goal with all clients is to restore a sense of purpose and joy in their life by strengthening self-awareness, compassion, and healthy connection to self and others.

Our Work Together

Our identities, behaviors, feelings, and actions are all rooted in the experiences and circumstances that form our lives and sometimes overwhelm us. Our healing partnership begins with deep listening, moves into self-discovery. Ultimately, the goal of our work together is to develop greater compassion for the hurt parts of you, more courage to make choices that support your wellbeing, and more skills for fruitful interactions with others.

The more we know our personality, character, tendencies, gifts, talents, weaknesses, and challenges, the better we can tend to the parts of us that hurt the most. In our work together, we will identify chronically unmet needs, opportunities for further development, and inner resources that can sustain you throughout treatment.

Depth psychology: Through a curious exploration of pivotal experiences, we examine the underlying beliefs and repeated patterns in your life.

Mental health is incomplete without emotional health. Emotional health involves emotional literacy (being able to name my inner experience and recognize that others around me are having their own experiences), emotional resilience (regulating emotions and responding rather than reacting), and healthy integration (using emotions constructively within relationships and life decisions).

All that we think and feel has a physical component. Our sessions will occasionally include a body awareness aspect, such as noticing sensations (tightness, breath, posture, tension) and gradually increasing the ability to regulate the nervous system so emotions can move through the body rather than remaining stored as chronic stress or dysregulation (which often manifests as illness).