About Me

Over the years I have found that many things I thought were impractical or weird about my interests, things totally at odds with any serious career aspirations for example, ended up being more relevant than I expected.  When I studied Buddhist philosophy & Tibetan language at Columbia, it wasn't exactly a smooth path to a good job. Like many people with impractical degrees who graduated in the mid-nineties I ended up working in technology during the first web boom, but it was never fulfilling. When I decided to become a psychotherapist years later, the field was in the process of integrating Buddhist meditation techniques and philosophies in a major way into therapies like DBT, ACT & MBCT.  

While mindfulness-based therapies have been incredibly helpful to many people I always felt uncomfortable with what seemed like a kind of cultural appropriation without sufficient attribution to the original sources. As a cis-gendered white male born into a position of privilege in this society and living on occupied Ohlone land I have tried to stay current with feminist, antiracist, and queer theory in order to better understand the impact centuries of colonialism has had and to work toward a more balanced world.  Like most fields of study, psychology has its roots in Empire and is always at risk of reiterating old power dynamics in new ways, but it can also be a force for liberation.  

I have been a licensed psychologist since 2009 and have worked in the mental health field since 2001.  As  the lead supervising psychologist in an adult neurodevelopmental assessment program at a large bay area medical center from 2018-2025 I  conducted or supervised thousands of adult ADHD assessments. Prior to that I worked as an adult therapist in the same fast-paced outpatient psychiatry department, with a sub-specialty in trauma treatment.  Prior to that I was a psychologist in a large child psychiatry department for ten years, where I provided therapy, conducted ADHD and other psychodiagnostic assessments, and supervised the psycho-diagnostic training program for psychologist interns and residents. In my clinical training I worked in a residential substance abuse program, at an outpatient VA clinic with combat veterans, and in a depth-oriented psychotherapy clinic.   My experience has exposed me to a wide range of clinical concerns and has been  invaluable  when it comes to the difficult task of differential diagnosis. 

I have been trained in depth and Jungian therapy  approaches, Internal Family Systems (IFS), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-processing therapies like EMDR, and "third-wave" therapies like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT).   

In my private practice I like to work with people who may already have tried skills-based therapy approaches and want to go deeper in a weekly individual psychotherapy to explore more complex issues that aren't easily identified or addressed but which may impede progress and change in profound ways. 

I can provide superbills if your insurance plan allows for reimbursement of private practice psychotherapy, but I am not a member of any insurance panels.