I am the youngest child of second generation Russian Jewish immigrants. I am a native New Yorker, but have lived on both coasts and places in between.
I have been a long time activist with a social justice and feminist sensibility. As a therapist, this means that I pay attention to the impact of social/political environment, particularly the “isms,” on your experiences, i.e. racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, sizeism and all experiences of being seen as “other.”
As a younger activist, I believed that external political and economic conditions were the fundamental cause of suffering, and that changing the system was the precondition for healing individual pain. However my experience has shown me that there is no such separation. I have come to integrate my commitment for system change with my passion for individual internal healing and an appreciation that these are inseparable components of the same process.
I completed my graduate studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to San Francisco in 1996.
In addition to my private practice, my work experience includes 15+ years of providing counseling in a workplace environment. I have assisted clients experiencing barriers to employment and suffering from the cause and consequences of unemployment, including drug and alcohol issues, former incarceration, domestic violence, relationship, family and parenting problems, depression, anxiety and childhood trauma.
“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed.
But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.”
Audre Lorde, The Black Unicorn