Professional Affiliations

• Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
• Advanced training in Psychoanalytic Therapy
• Certified in Relational Life Therapy
• Member of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists

If you’re looking to strengthen your relationship, resolve conflicts, or deepen intimacy with your partner, you’ve come to the right place.

As a certified Relational Life Therapist, I specialize in helping couples navigate their relationship challenges and create lasting positive change.

Through my work, I help couples:

• Develop stronger communication skills
• Resolve ongoing conflicts
• Build deeper emotional connections
• Foster personal accountability
• Strengthen intimacy and trust

What drives my passion for this work? Before becoming a therapist, my own life experiences taught me valuable lessons about human connection and healing. These insights, combined with my professional training, allow me to offer a unique perspective in helping you untangle both immediate challenges and long-standing relationship patterns.

I’m particularly fascinated by how our relationships shape us:

• How past experiences influence our present connections
• The ways partners with different backgrounds can bridge their experiences
• How couples can build confidence and trust together despite past hurts
• The beautiful complexity of human connection and growth

My approach is warm, engaging, and focused on practical results. Using the proven methods of Relational Life Therapy, I help couples move beyond surface-level conflicts to create deeper understanding and lasting change.

If you’re seeking a therapist who combines professional expertise with genuine care and understanding, I’d welcome the opportunity to work with you. The first step toward positive change is finding the right fit in a therapist, and I encourage you to reach out to explore if we might work well together.

It’s a fairly safe assumption to say that when you have children, your life changes.

There’s probably not a soul in the world who would dispute that. But, some people are likely to focus on a mixture of changes, rather than focus on strictly positive ones. If we’re all being honest, we should probably all be focusing on that mix – especially when it comes to marriage. Wedded bliss can easily fly out the window when kids come into the picture, and it’s really no one’s fault. You’re expected to put your children first, above all else. The only problem with that arises when we ignore our marriage in the process.

Life can become chaotic, stressful, and feel as though it’s moving at 100 miles per hour when you bring a new baby into the house. No matter how much advice you might get from people ahead of time when it comes to the importance of going out, having ‘date nights,’ etc., none of that seems to really fit into the schedule of a new parent. And, while it’s likely you wouldn’t change your situation or trade your children for anything, the fact remains: Kids can throw a wrench into just about any marriage, no matter what age they are.

So, whether you have a newborn baby, or three kids all under the age of ten, there are some important things to keep in mind to keep your marriage happy and healthy.

As a couples therapist in Pasadena, I understand being on the same page about things is important, and you can’t do that unless you’re well-rested. It may be an old sort of ‘joke’ that when you bring a new baby into the house, you can say goodbye to sleep. And maybe for a few months, that’s the case. But, sleep should be a priority not only for yourself, but for your relationship. When you’re well-rested, you’ll be able to communicate more clearly, you won’t be as irritable, and you’ll be more open toward your partner. If need be, work out a sort of sleep schedule that ensures both of you will get an adequate amount of rest.

Once you’re in the right mindset and well-rested, communication is key, again and again. One of the most important things you can do is trust your partner, and recognize that at times, they will fail – and so will you! With kids in the picture, it’s easy to feel over-worked, over-stressed, and overwhelmed. That makes it far too easy to lash out at the people closest to us when something goes wrong, including our spouse. Make every effort possible to be patient with the person you’re with, and recognize that a single mistake doesn’t dictate who they are.

In addition to forgiving and forgetting, you should be appreciative of the ‘little things.’

Maybe your spouse makes dinner every night, maybe they cleaned the bathroom, or maybe they knew you were having a bad day so they stopped to get you flowers. While none of these instances are ‘grand gestures’ of any kind, you don’t always have time for those grand gestures when you’re trying to take care of kids. So, take the little things as they come, and be appreciative of what they mean. They can add up quickly, and really build up your marriage to a higher level.

The ‘date night’ everyone encourages you to have can be nice, but it’s not always as feasible as people make it out to be.

But, it is important to have something you and your spouse can do together that doesn’t revolve around kids. So, don’t be afraid to take up some kind of hobby or activity together that you can both enjoy. It can be anything from joining a local fitness group, to taking an art class. Find a common interest, or something you’d be willing to try, and go from there. Even just a couple hours a week of something like this can leave you feeling refreshed, and closer to your partner.

When it comes down to it…

Yes, having kids in your marriage can make things stressful, and at times it can feel like you’re doing it on your own, causing you to snap at the person you love most. But, you have to understand that your spouse is going through the exact same thing, with the exact same situation. Instead of taking out your frustrations on each other, it’s okay to commiserate with each other. Simply getting things off your chest to one another can help alleviate some of that stress, rather than letting it build up inside. Remember that your marriage is a partnership, especially when it comes to raising your kids. When you not only accept that, but appreciate it, that relationship can really thrive.