About me:
I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. I attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate and Antioch University where I earned a Master's Degree in Psychology.

I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington State. After graduate school, I enrolled in a psychoanalytic training program and embarked on ten additional years of professional education becoming a full member of the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society and a Fellow of the International Psychoanalytic Association in 2004. In 2017, I became Board Certified in Psychoanalysis by the Confederation of Independent Psychoanalytic Societies.

I opened my private practice in Fremont in 1995. In addition to my work with children and adults, I founded The Alliance Community Psychotherapy Clinic, a non profit project of the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study. I served in various roles in that organization from 1995 until 2008 when I left the board of directors. I regularly teach at various psychoanalytic training programs both locally and nationally.

In recent years I have been fortunate to participate in a group named the Gunawirra Foundation in Sydney, Australia. For several years I have provided weekly consultation to clinicians working with young Aboriginal children. I continue to be inspired by what I am learning working with Norma Tracey and her group.

All my study is animated by practical attention to the question "how does psychotherapy work?"My current professional interests involve several writing projects related to what I call "listening after Bion". I continue to explore the implications of the work of W.R. Bion as well as others in British Object Relations, especially the work of Frances Tustin, and Donald Meltzer.

I'm increasingly influenced by over twenty years of meditation practice (Tibetan Buddhism) as well as by explorations of Qi-gong. My long term goal is to write about how these different paths converge in the therapist's task of listening and helping others.

I am currently working on two book projects:

Following a Ribbon of Beauty: Listening after Bion
and
Mapping some Countries of the Mind: Toward a Listening Grid