White woman with curly, blond and grey hair pulled back, glasses, and nose ring smiles showing teeth.  Wearing black shirt with white stripes and background is wooden fence.

About me

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW #94097).  My pronoun is she/her. I often like to be called by my nickname, Lea.

I received my Masters degree in Social Work (MSW) from Smith College School for Social Work in 2016. I received my Bachelors degree from Harvard College in 2008, with a major in political science and a certificate in Latin American studies.

Some of my identities include: white, woman, queer, cisgender, late-30s, Jewish, fiber and fabric artist. I love sewing, knitting, dancing, and taking my rescue dog for hikes in the East Bay Regional Parks.

I speak Spanish fluently after more than 25 years of study and work, though I am not bicultural.

I have been a therapist for 10 years and worked since 2009 with survivors of violence and trauma in New York City and in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have worked with children, teens, and adults, and have particular experience supporting people caught up in harmful systems such as foster care, immigration, and criminal justice processes. Outside of my private therapy practice I am also a clinical supervisor for therapists working with children and families at a community mental health agency in Oakland, California.  

My approach to therapy

I have trained in psychodynamic and somatic therapies, with a deep commitment to collective liberation, and I knit these together in my practice.

  • As a psychodynamic therapist, I will support you to deeply know yourself, your story, and the future you long for. Together we will gently, curiously untangle the habits and ideas that helped you in the past, and that may now be getting in the way of your goals.

  • As a somatic practitioner, I know that experiences live on in our bodies, as well as in our memories. I will support you to connect more deeply with the ways your body remembers your story, with the guidance it offers on your path towards healing, and with the pleasures and joy it can hold.

  • In my commitment to collective liberation, I understand mental health as interwoven with experiences of harm from other people and from systems of oppression including white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, Zionism, antisemitism, and more. In our work together we will pay attention, with care and accountability, to naming and grieving the harms and traumas that you, your communities, and your ancestors have been through, and imagine creating a healthy world where we all can thrive.

Contact me to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.

We’ll discuss your goals for therapy and see if I may be a good fit to support you with them.