We often think of coming out as something that happens in one’s younger years. For many of us, the teen years are a time of exploration and experimentation, as well as a time of identifying who we are as an individual. When we are free to fully explore ourselves and our sexuality without judgment or…
Hello there! I’m excited to share the latest updates about my practice with you! IN-PERSON SESSIONS I am now seeing clients in the office on Mondays and Saturdays. I may add more days in the future. The office is located at 2816 Adams Avenue, which is where University Heights meets North Park (in San Diego).…
What does it mean when we have internalized homophobia? When someone internalizes their family’s, religion’s, or culture’s negative attitudes and beliefs about being queer, this results in feelings of shame, guilt, and self-hatred. It is a common side effect of being raised in evangelical purity culture. When someone is raised in a high-control religion, they…
So you want to see a therapist. But how do you find the right one? Where do you even start with that? If you have health insurance coverage, you can go to your insurance website and get a list of names, but that tells you little-to-nothing about the actual therapists themselves. How do you know…
Purity culture. I didn’t have that name for it when I was young. I just heard over and over again that sex is only for married men and women, the end, full stop. To reinforce this, when I was 13 my parents gave me a gold ring to wear, with a little rose on it…
Clients often come to me utterly frustrated with their own negativity. They’re annoyed with their inner critic. They’re tired of a fearful outlook regularly ruining their days. They’re able to identify “negative self-talk,” and they want to know how to make it stop. They’re exhausted by worry and the thought of worst-case scenarios, and then…
I recently had the privilege to be interviewed by Savio P. Clemente at Authority Magazine, for his series entitled Taking the Leap: How to Learn to Believe in Yourself. In the series he interviews people from various disciplines and industries about why it’s important to believe in yourself and how you can get better at…
You’ve deconstructed and deconverted and haven’t been in a church in years, except for weddings and funerals. You’re pretty clear on your beliefs – or lack thereof. So is it possible that the old programming is still impacting your daily life? Absolutely. Here are several ways you may be seeing this stuff show up long…
Therapists are always learning. We are required to obtain ongoing education in order to maintain our licenses, but many of us learn because we love it. And I am one of them. So I recently completed a two-day intensive trauma treatment certification workshop. This trauma training was led by Dr. Arielle Schwartz, one of the…
Grief is a Rollercoaster. It takes us on a wild ride through multiple emotions. And not the fun kind of ride. Losing someone significant is never easy, and it can get more complicated when you’ve left behind your religious beliefs. Grieving when you are exvangelical, ex-Mormon, or any other “ex,” you may feel like you…