About
Me
My Story
It took me a nearly a decade to figure out, and accept, how I needed to live in order to truly feel good.
For a very long time I did not know what feeling good felt like; I had grown so used to feeling depleted, that I didn't realize how horrible I felt. I actually believed that feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, anxious and at times depressed were just my normal. Everyday felt like I was swimming up stream. I believed, albeit falsely, that this was just as good as it was gonna get for me.
I didn't experience relief until 1.) I made significant (and lasting) shifts in my diet 2.) I began working out for my mind (instead of just for my waistline), and 3.) I started seeing a therapist.
This relief didn't happen right away, but over time it was as if a heavy, dark veil began to dissolve until it was completely gone. What I felt, and still feel, is a sense of wellbeing, a wellness that I didn't even know was possible, let alone something I could have as my new normal.
By learning to make daily conscious and very deliberate choices that support the health of both my body and my mind, I have been able to establish a solid foundation of wellness.
It took me years to figure this out. It was an odyssey of starts and stops. I spent a lot of time and a lot money looking for that "magic bullet" that would "cure" me once and for all. Guess what? This was totally the wrong attitude to have. My strong attachment to the idea of a quick fix is ironically why it took me a decade to find my true wellness. The metaphor I learned in childhood finally sunk in-- it's the tortoise, not the hare that wins the race.
This lesson has since become my philosophy: the choices you make daily can either be like compound interest-- building you a solid wellness bank account or your choices can have the opposite effect-- depleting your reserves, leading to emotional and physical illness.
The behaviors that lead us to feeling our best are often the ones that we have the most resistance to. Support is imperative for success. Reliable support is what helped me to overcome the physical and emotional obstacles that kept getting in my way of living a healthy, happy life.
I support my clients with holistic integrated therapy that goes beyond talk therapy. My approach offers clients the support they need to attend to both their emotional and physical health. I have blended my experience, education and skillset making me a one-stop-shop to helping people feel good, in every way, for life.
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My Background
I am a licensed psychotherapist, certified health coach and a certified personal trainer. I earned my Bachelors from Cornell University, my Masters from Columbia University and my personal training & health coach certification from the American Council of Exercise.
I paid my way through graduate school working as a personal trainer in New York City. I led boot camps and individual training sessions in central park. It was while training clients that it became clear that I was offering clients much more than a workout. I was also providing my clients with the attention they needed to open up and work through the life challenges that were getting in their way of feeling their best. This was the seed that would years later sprout my private practice of providing clients with sound mind, sound body sessions which integrate traditional therapy with physical fitness.
Before starting my private practice, I worked at the Palo Alto VA Hospital. First as a clinician in the inpatient psychiatry ward and then as the director of the MOVE Weight Management Program-- a behavioral medicine clinic dedicated to helping Veterans lose weight. It was during my time at the VA that I realized that healing both the body and the mind are essential to lasting health and wellness. Veterans looking for a quick solution repeatedly came back to my clinic until they were ready to dedicate the time and commitment needed to make lasting positive change. It was here that I further cultivated my skill and realized my passion in taking a holistic mind body approach to helping clients work through issues of the past and move forward to living healthier, happier lives.