About Me

I am a registered psychological associate currently working towards completing my post-doctoral hours. I work under the direct supervision of licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Rachel Horodezky in Santa Cruz, California. I have 4 years of experience practicing therapy and assessment in supervised clinical settings, working with a variety of client's including children, adolescents, and adults. 

I completed my doctorate of clinical psychology with Rosemead school of Psychology in 2023. My doctoral training involved three years of supervised  practicum work , where I worked with several specialized underserved populations, including survivors of sexual assault and trauma victims who were also diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  I completed my pre-doctoral internship with Monterey County Behavioral Health Services, where i worked with underserved and marginalized populations in family reunification and the treatment of psychosis. Prior to my doctoral training, I spent 2 years working for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education where I worked with adolescents in alternative education settings.

I have completed training in several evidenced based practices, including cognitive behavioral therapy, emotion focused therapy, and parent-child interaction therapy. However, the primary emphasis of my training was relational psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis. These modalities stress the importance of a client's history and the subconscious processes contributing to functional impairment. I am constantly mindful of the dynamics at work in the relationships with my client's and encourage my client's to intrepidly explore vulnerable emotional concepts. Your emotions are important to me and I practice with the understanding that the best way to achieve freedom from painful emotions is to feel and process these emotions. This approach draws on the immortal words of Winston Churchill who advised us that 

"If you're going through hell, keep going."   

Like many people that live here, I have an enduring love for Santa Cruz and I want to do whatever I can to see this community flourish. There is truly no other place like this in the world and I am convinced that we possess the resources and competency that is needed to better our own lives and overcome the host of challenges facing our community.  I am excited by the prospect of helping our community members overcome their own mental health challenges and build a life that reflects the beauty of the town we live in.