Frequently Asked Questions

I’m not a professional caregiver, can I still meet with you?

I define caregivers in this way, “a caregiver is a person who provides intentional service to and for other humans - mentally, emotionally, socially, spiritually, financially, or practically - in a way that is full of heart, passion and commitment.”
If that sounds like you and you’re interested to work together, contact me and let’s have a conversation see if I’m a good match for what you’re looking for.

Why caregivers?

My grandmothers were teachers, mom a nurse, aunts a doctor, sister a nurse, and I became a professional caregiver myself when I set out to get licensed as a clinical social worker. Years later, I had reached “the top of my career” and was giving it my all working with some of the highest risk & under-resourced populations in Los Angeles. I loved them, my team and was passionate about my work. I was receiving near-daily recognition and glowing feedback from peers, clients and higher ups. However, my own life wasn’t ok - I was the heaviest I’d ever been, often working 50+ hour weeks, commuting 3 hours a day only to do more working from home. I was feeling increasingly disconnected from my friends, family and my spouse.

I was in my “dream job” why couldn’t I just… keep going? “It’s all part of it” & “This is how it goes” - I would tell myself. It took an event that was a threat to my life to take place from that job for me to have the tiniest bit of insight that, whatever my problem was: I was burned out, in incredibly poor physical & mental health.

I began to notice within myself and my hard-held identity as a caregiver would often continue giving long past my boundary point and then some. Then I would still ive some more, justifying it with what I’d learned as a young person from the adults around me “we can, so we do”. What was left were feelings of self-neglect, beyond exhaustion, and deeply resentment towards myself and sometimes others. Yet I continued to “provide care”, because the alternative I learned was “not-to-care” and that’s something I just could not bring myself to do. I’ve been working ever since to find a way to live inside these systemic expectations (both external and internal) to find that the care I was providing was not sustainable, not because I didn’t know how to, but because I didn’t know how to listen to myself. This was my reality despite all the years, training and “success” in learning to listen to others - I felt I needed to do something for all of us who didn’t get to have those same years, training and success with learning to listen to others by using myself as a test, the ultimate use of s/Self I could think of.

I set out to learn how to really listen to myself, be present and live my life with intention. It’s growing to be part of my common sense that difficult feelings and experiences are part of what it means to live a full life & that we are not meant to rid ourselves of them. We are meant to learn not only the “how-to move with them”, I have come to believe we are meant to learn how we can thrive with them. Taking care of ourselves and learning how to remind ourselves that “just because we can, doesn’t mean we should” becomes an act of self-preservation and, should we choose to, sustainability of that care we’ve prided ourselves in.

If this sounds like you or someone you know, I get it and I want to help you to receive that care you so generously give to others. I hope to hear from you.

Do you accept insurance?

For psychotherapy, yes — I’ve partnered with a company called Headway so I am able to accept a number of clients with the following insurances: Anthem, Aetna, and Blue Shield. For any other services, please see my services page and/or set up a time to consult about your needs.