I came to this work the long way around — which I think has made me better at it.

I started out as a gay youth leader in Boston and then as an AIDS activist with ACT UP and Queer Nation in New York City. This was the late '80s and early '90s, and both roles demanded a lot. Those years left their mark: a real, lived understanding of what it means to fight for your identity, lose people you love, and build something meaningful inside structures that weren't built with you in mind. That hasn't left me, and it still informs how I show up in sessions.

I went on to study at Columbia University and then earned my MA in Integral Counseling Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. My clinical training took me through existential-humanistic therapy, Gestalt, transpersonal psychology, and more recently ketamine-assisted psychotherapy — something I find genuinely compelling for people who feel entrenched in patterns that haven't budged through other means.

More than 30 years of practice within Western spiritual and Hermetic traditions has shaped how I understand the self and what real change looks like. This isn't a side interest — it's been central to my own development. I've also guided others on their inner journeys for over two decades.

Twenty-plus years in the corporate world as a Director of Litigation Technology at several global law firms taught me what it's like to be highly functional and quietly struggling. I know the particular flavor of that exhaustion.

Therapy has been part of my own life for years, across a few different chapters. I know what it's like to be on the other side of the room.

I work mostly with gay men, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people in kink, poly, and non-traditional relationship configurations. These are communities I belong to. I also work with couples, polycules, families and business partners, and sometimes run therapy groups. If you're looking for a therapist who already speaks your language, I might be a good fit.

My office is on Church Street in the Castro. I see clients in person and remotely throughout California.

Education:

M.A., Integral Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) (2012)
B.A., Political Science, Columbia College at Columbia University in the City of New York, NY (1987)

Certifications:

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) - MDMA-Assisted Therapy Training Program - Certificate of Completion

Additional Training:

Advanced Gestalt and Relational Trainings (Patel, Yontef, Jacobs, Hycner)

Psychoanalytic Case Conference - Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC)

Internal Family Systems (Schwartz)

Repairing Attachment Trauma: Advanced Approaches for Deep Healing and Post-Traumatic Growth (Fisher)

Esther Perel's Transformative Approach to Couples Therapy in Action (Perel)

Foundations of Existential-Humanistic Therapy Training - (Schneider & Krug)

Advanced Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy Training - (Polaris Insight Center, Fluence, Journey Clinical)

Memberships and Affiliations: 

Bay Area Open Minds - Psychotherapists Affirming Sexual & Gender Diversity
CAMFT - California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
Gaylesta -  The LGBTQ Psychotherapy Association
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
Association of Transpersonal Psychology
Association of Humanistic Psychology
AAGT - Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, Southwest Chapter
EHI - Existential Humanistic Institute

Board Member (2013-2019) - Bay Area Open Minds: Psychotherapists Affirming Sexual & Gender Diversity

Internships:
Integral Counseling Center at Church Street
Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA)
SF Academy of Arts and Sciences
Bay Area Gestalt Institute