background

My journey into psychotherapy began more than thirty years ago with an undergraduate degree in Religious Studies and a deep interest in Buddhist Psychology. I am a lay-entrusted teacher in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi and have also practiced extensively in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.

In 2015, after many years of study and practice, I received lay-initiation in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi from Hoka Chris Fortin, founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Heart Zen (DHZ), a Branching Streams affiliate. In 2018, I served as shuso (head monk) for DHZ, allowing me to begin teaching. In 2025, I received full authorization as a lay teacher, allowing me to support others within this lineage.

For nearly twenty years, I have supported family programming at San Francisco Zen Center, first as a participant, then as a volunteer, and for the last decade, as the Family Programs Director, developing content that brings families together in a practice community, now known as the SFZC Family Sangha, and offering a wide network of programs. Having known the particular grief of child-loss, I also support the Jizo Ceremonies for Children who Have Died held twice per year at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center.

As a vehicle for social and personal transformation, I founded Joyful Mind Project, a grassroots 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to fostering mindfulness in our communities. My work there began very informally in 2007 — in my living room — with neighborhood groups. Over a period of nearly two decades, this grew into receiving our nonprofit status, supporting mindfulness in over a dozen Bay Area schools, developing and running land-based programs on biodynamic farms, earth-based co-ops for homeschooling families, and offering liberatory psychotherapy and non-clinical/coaching services.

Determined to work at the intersection of mindfulness and racial and social justice, I spent five years supporting the growth of school-based mindfulness at Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City, an unincorporated community of Marin County where systemic racism has historically limited access to resources. I also completed many hours for my clinical Traineeship and Associateship in Marin City through the Marin County Cooperations Team and Southern Marin Community Connection, grassroots community organizations empowering youth to become organizers and influencers.

My graduate degree is from California Institute of Integral Studies, where I also spent three years as an adjunct professor in the Integral Counseling Psychology program. I am honored to have had my clinical work supervised by Gina Biegel, LMFT, author, researcher, and leader in the field of secular mindfulness, and Elberta Eriksson, LCSW, LMFT, a fierce elder and role model who worked for social and racial justice in mental health until her death at age ninety-one. I also completed many clinical hours in the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District where I deepened my understanding of the dynamics within school systems.

My training also includes a certificate in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy from the Embody Lab; a year-long comprehensive mindfulness teacher certification program with Vinny Ferraro, Chris McKenna, and Megan Cowan (formerly of Mindful Schools); and a certificate in trauma-informed care from the Center for Adolescent Studies with Sam Himelstein, Ph.D., researcher and pioneer of mindfulness with incarcerated youth. My mindfulness-based work is featured in the book, Happy Teachers Change the World: A Guide for Cultivating Mindfulness in Education by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare.