My Background

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances:
if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
—C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

I am an IAAP (International Association for Analytical Psychology) certified Jungian Analyst, trained at the C.G. Jung Study Center of Southern California with continued studies at the Research and Training Center in Depth Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland, the birthplace of Jungian thought and practice.

I received my master’s degree in the Counseling Psychology Program with a Specialization in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. My clinical expertise developed as I worked at Devereux, Santa Barbara treating children and adults who suffered with histories of severe emotional trauma and distress. My therapeutic skills were further honed at Counseling West, Inc. where I treated individuals, couples, and families in crisis who suffered with anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and depression. I supervised trainees and interns at various counseling centers including Counseling West, West Hills, California and New Beginnings, Santa Barbara, California. Additionally I served as the Mental Health Consultant to the families of migrant farm workers in Oxnard and Filmore, California.

I established a private practice in Santa Barbara in June of 1999 and began teaching at Pacifica Graduate Institute in the fall of that year. Now retired as Emeritus Professor in the Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, I continue to teach at the adjunct level. Previously, I served as Program Chair (2011-2018), Associate Chair (2007-2011), and Director of Clinical Training (2005-2011).

The Counseling Psychology Program I chaired received the California Association of Marriage Family Therapists Outstanding School Award in May 2018, honoring the robust and excellent education provided in the program. I enjoyed engaged interactions with faculty and students, which supported our meaningful pursuit of a nuanced understanding of depth psychology.

Before training as a Jungian analyst, I studied in the World Arts and Cultures Program at UCLA and worked in Arts Management as Director of Special Programs at the Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) in Los Angeles, coordinating the National Endowment for the Humanities funded Today Programs in Los Angeles; Egypt Today, Scandinavia Today. The International Festival of Masks, a 1984 Olympic Arts Festival event I coordinated, was selected for its long history—1977-1988—of collaborative inclusivity with the multifarious cultural groups in Los Angeles. One of the most meaningful aspects of my work were the personal and professional person to person relationships with indigenous cultural groups from all over Los Angeles and the world; African, Egyptian, Asian, Eastern and Western European, Central and South American, Hawaiian, and Arctic.

During the years I was active in arts management and in advance of formal training, I attended the Friday evening programs sponsored by the Los Angeles C.G. Jung Institute’s Analytical Psychology Club and participated in Senior Analyst, James Kirsch’s Monday Evening Seminars dedicated to the deep reading of various volumes of Jung’s Collected Works.

My work in multicultural arts management at CAFAM supported my passion for the experience of the emergence of the archetypes of the collective unconscious as they are expressed in world cultures. Similarly, my work at Pacifica and in private practice has provided an experience of the inner resilience in response to suffering that characterizes those who engage in depth psychotherapy. Clinicians become who they are in relationship with others. I am grateful for all I have learned from my teachers, faculty, and my students as well as from the families, children, and individuals with whom I have had the privilege of working.

A Stage II Cancer Diagnosis at the end of my graduate studies served as another profound teacher. I experienced the archetype of the Wounded Healer in the journey from diagnosis and treatment to on-going recovery (See References, The Arc of Becoming; and see paper, Archetypal Motif of the Wounded Healer). The experience of illness and wellness are the foundation corner stones for my work with Sacred Healing Retreats and Sacred Illness Retreats along with other presentations and programs (See Events).