My Background
I was raised in Southern California and went to Pitzer College in Claremont for my undergraduate degree, majoring in Child Psychology. I moved to Northern California in 1981 after living and working in Africa and later Hawaii. My previous work history includes human resource training at Kaiser Permanente and a private practice as a bodywork practitioner. I currently live in Marin County with my husband, and near my daughter and grandchildren.
My journey towards becoming a somatic psychotherapist
My interest in the interface between mind and body began when I was a child. For years, I would get very sick with a high fever with no known cause. These mysterious illnesses often occurred when my parents went away on business trips, causing my doctor to suggest that it was “all in my head.” Although I was finally diagnosed with a congenital kidney infection, it was clear to me that the association between my illness and my mother’s absences was not just coincidence!
As a bodywork practitioner, I saw that many people had emotional issues that they held in their bodies, which prevented them from truly relaxing. I could feel their resistances and blocks, yet I didn’t have the capacity to address them.
My quest for understanding the interface between emotions and the body led me to a year-long training in Lomi Applied Somatics, led by Thomas Pope MFT, Ernestine Ward MFT, and Robert Hall MD. During this training, I uncovered and processed a great deal of my own psychological material. I came to believe that all we need to know about ourselves resides in our bodies. Following this training, I knew that I wanted to become a somatic psychotherapist.
In order to achieve that goal and be fully trained and licensed, I entered into a doctorate program at Meridian University. I received my degree in 2008. I did both my pre-doc and post-doc internship hours at the Lomi Psychotherapy Clinic in order to continue my training in somatic psychotherapy.
Towards the end of my internship, I entered into advanced studies in Orgonomics, a mind/body discipline developed by Wilhelm Reich, an analyst and contemporary of Freud. I have been studying Orgonomics since 2007 through the Orgonomic Institute of Northern California, Patricia Frisch MFT PhD, founder and director. I became an Accredited Orgonomist in the fall of 2011. In 2010, I co-founded San Marin Psychotherapy, the first Orgonomic group practice in Northern California.
Personal influences along the way
Various experiences that have informed my life blend into a collage of perspectives as a licensed psychologist. From years of study in shamanism, through the years of raising my daughter as a single mother (and now the joys of being a grandmother), working as a therapeutic bodyworker, and finally to my own inner work, my life experiences richly inform the therapeutic container that I hold for my clients.
My shamanic journey has shaped my philosophy and ethics of life. These indigenous teachings ground and center me in an understanding that the earth is a living entity, that we are all connected, and that what we do and say has an impact. I embrace the belief that it is our task to reawaken to the original instructions on how to live in harmony with the land and the Earth. My doctoral dissertation on “Postmenopausal Empowerment: Authentic Trust and Archetypal Instincts” incorporated indigenous technologies of inquiry. (See dissertation abstract - PDF) In addition, I incorporate indigenous philosophies and technologies in my workshops on “Women’s Wisdom Ways” (see Services & Programs).
Learn more about my Shamanic Journey.
Although I have spent years exploring my own inner psychological work through a variety of modalities, it wasn’t until I entered into a committed therapeutic relationship with a Reichian Orgonomist and analyst (Patricia Frisch PhD) that I was able to truly dig down to the core issues that have lived in me and influenced my character development. It has been a rich and liberating discovery to understand that my main character defense has been to be aggressive (known in Reichian terms as a “phallic defense”), to uncover the fears and insecurities that lay under that defensive strategy, and to understand the negative ways in which that defensive behavior has impacted my relationships. Through my own personal somatic (biophysical) work, I have been able to access and release many of the core angers, fears, and tears from very early childhood. As a result, I feel more fluid in my relationships and communication abilities and more accepting of the world as a safe and loving place.
Through my personal and academic journey to wholeness and understanding, I am grateful to now be able to guide clients through this sophisticated and effective methodology that supports the liberation of their soul’s natural impulses to live in a fluid and creative manner.
