My Training

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). An MFT or LCSW license can be verified on the website for the Board of Behavioral Sciences. To obtain an MFT license in California requires at least a master’s degree, plus 3,000 hours of supervised training, after which state certification exams must be taken and passed.

My bachelor’s degrees are in Mathematics and Vocal Performance. My M.A. is in Social/Clinical Psychology, from New College of California. This particular degree includes a thorough grounding in psychological theory as well as training in the impact of social influences and social systems in clients’ lives. It included two years of training in providing effective multicultural work.

My supervised clinical hours were spent at the University of California San Francisco / AIDS Health Project (USCF/AHP); a San Francisco Community Mental Health System (SF/CMHS) clinic called The Center for Special Problems (CSP), and at an East Bay family service agency called Xanthos, Inc. At UCSF/AHP my work focused largely on HIV+ individuals and groups. At CSP I worked with Transgendered clients, HIV+ clients, court-mandated clients who had perpetrated domestic violence, and clients identified as victims of crime. At Xanthos I worked largely with children and their families.

Through the five years of these placements, I worked with clients from a broad spectrum of ethnic backgrounds, including adult clients who identified as HIV-positive; African-American, Latino, Caucasian, Pacific Islander, lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual, questioning, queer, substance abusing, and in recovery. I also worked with couples. My training includes both short-term and longer-term work.

My work with children includes clients from age 4 through 18, both individually and with their families. I developed and led Youth Anger Management groups for over two years, and worked as a consultant to Head Start. Since becoming licensed, I have pursued more specialized training in working with:

• “Difficult” children.
• Gifted youth and adults.
• Clients dealing with infertility.
• Using Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) with clients.
• Supervising pre-licensed mental health professionals.

I have completed two-thirds of the CAMFT Certified Supervisor Training coursework.

For complete details of my education and training, see my resume.

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