My Why: To question, listen, and challenge others compassionately so that they can live with integrity
To get to the truth/find the truth, help others see the truth, so that everyone may live more truthfully
To make the unconscious conscious and shine light on the shadow aspects of our personalities, so that we can be more truthful with ourselves and others
I have always been inspired to find the truth, to look for deeper meanings, and to make the unconscious conscious, because I believe that this allows people to live more authentic lives full of integrity.
My search for “the truth” of the matter began when I pursued an acting degree at Boston University, and invested in the myriad methods of storytelling as a way to make sense of our collective human existence.
Receiving my own autoimmune diagnosis introduced me to health coaching, and the transformative power of receiving loving accountability from another person fully invested in my growth. I was inspired to open my own group coaching practice, and begin helping women to dismantle the internalized oppression that tells us we need to further our own dependence on others in order to receive love and care. Simultaneously, I felt that the action-oriented behavioral work I was doing wasn’t even beginning to touch the deep wounding that these women were bringing to me. My own personal therapy and the limitations of coaching inspired me to seek deeper meaning by advancing my education through an MA in clinical psychology at Antioch University Los Angeles (AULA).
At AULA, I took multiple classes with my supervisor, Dr. Cadyn Cathers, who inspired me to look more closely than I ever had before at my own unconscious truths. Once I began to understand how much of an impact these internal processes were having on my external world, I was even more inspired to learn more about psychoanalytic psychotherapy as part of my journey to becoming a licensed mental health provider.
A key component that I love about psychoanalytic theory is the tenet that our thoughts and feelings are not the deepest roots of our behavior or personalities. Instead, the unconscious ways of relating that we learned in childhood, and the stories we hold in our DNA about what love is, who deserves it, and how to give and receive it, help us get to the truth underlying our mental health symptoms. To me, psychoanalytic theory feels comprehensive in a way coaching could never be.
Now, I work from an affirmative psychoanalytic lens, with the aim of exploring the hidden truths we all have that are based on early childhood relational patterns.
