Originally from the ancestral and unceded land of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, currently known as Palo Alto, CA, I am the biracial descendant of Black slaves and white Irish immigrants. I’m a womanist. A Black feminist. And a critically conscious liberation psychologist. I love to write, facilitate, and provide therapy, consultation, and coaching. At the root of my work is a calling to create opportunities for healing, evolution, and interdependence. Grounded in the knowledge that movement toward liberation is a forever endeavor — the process of a lifetime and one that will continue far beyond this lifetime, I offer consultation and training to groups, organizations, and businesses, in the areas of mental health, anti-oppression, inclusion, and belonging. I also maintain a private psychotherapy and coaching practice for tech professionals in Silicon Valley, and serve as faculty in the Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Women in Management program.

I earned my Bachelor’s Degree cum laude in Culture Studies from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Culture. I completed my Master’s and Doctoral Degrees in Clinical Psychology, with an academic emphasis in Diversity and Community Mental Health, from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University. I finished my predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship in Gender Studies & Women’s Health at the VA Caribbean Healthcare System in San Juan, Puerto Rico, while serving as the elected member-at-large for diversity and inclusion to the American Psychological Association’s graduate student board. Most recently, I spent four years at First Step — the Palo Alto VA’s 90-day residential substance use treatment program — where I provided individual and group therapy to veterans who experienced struggles with substance use, PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

My superpower is my eternal quest for growth and healing, which I use to move toward a more vibrant, equitable, and free future, while extending grace to myself and my communities in this moment.

Approach

Whether facilitating team building and providing leadership training for high stakes organizational initiatives or delivering individual and group therapy, my approach celebrates the value of understanding and using emotions as a guide to our daily lives and the true pathway towards living our dreams, making committed action to bring about change, and focusing on empowerment and agency to achieve our goals.