I'm a depth-oriented psychotherapist in San Francisco, working with adults, individually and in couples, in a psychodynamic, relational tradition, with additional training in somatic, body-based approaches. The work is unhurried and attentive to what lies beneath the surface.
People find their way here around anxiety and depression, grief and loss, relationships that have grown painful or distant, difficult transitions, and the quieter questions of meaning, identity, and how to feel more like themselves. I also conduct comprehensive psychological evaluations.
How I work
The work looks beneath the problem you come in with, to the patterns underneath it: the long-standing ways you relate and protect yourself. It draws on both insight and the body, and makes room for dreams.
I welcome LGBTQ+, queer, transgender, non-binary, and non-monogamous clients, in an affirming and culturally sensitive practice.
What I offer
Individual therapy for adults
Psychodynamic psychotherapy for adults, one to four times weekly, fifty minutes per session. In person in San Francisco or by video. Open-ended, with attention to recurring patterns, defenses, dreams, and the body.
Couple therapy
Psychodynamic and somatic couple therapy, seventy-five-minute sessions, for couples of any configuration. Common presenting concerns include recurring conflict, distance and withdrawal, breaches of trust, changes in intimacy, and decisions about the future of the relationship. The focus is the pattern between partners rather than fault.
Psychological assessment
Comprehensive psychological evaluation organized around a referral question: cognitive change, a persistent pattern at work or in relationships, diagnostic clarification, or readiness for a demanding role. Methods include clinical interview, standardized cognitive and personality testing, and, where indicated, informant ratings and collateral interviews. Findings are delivered as an integrated written report and reviewed with the client in a feedback session.
Areas of focus
- Anxiety, depression, and stress
- Grief and loss
- Trauma and PTSD
- Relationships, marriage, and family
- Life transitions
- Self-esteem and identity
- Men's issues
- Obsessive-compulsive (OCD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Borderline and personality organization
Where I practice
- C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco James Goodrich Whitney Clinic
The first Jungian analytic training institute in the world, with roots in San Francisco going back to 1943. The James Goodrich Whitney Clinic is its sliding-scale community clinic, offering long-term Jungian psychotherapy to the public.
- Gerdenio Manuel Center for Psychotherapy Co-Founder & Psychological Associate
A depth-oriented practice in San Francisco offering individual and couples psychotherapy and psychological assessment, led by Gerdenio M. Manuel, S.J., Ph.D.
- Equity Health Behavioral Health
A federally funded community health center in San Francisco. Its behavioral health program integrates psychotherapy with primary care in the same clinic setting.
Education
- M.A., Psychology California Institute of Integral Studies
- M.F.A. School of Visual Arts
- B.S., Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology Emory University
Background
I've spent my career trying to understand people. I began in neuroscience, then spent more than a decade as a design researcher, listening closely to how people live and what they struggle to say. Over time I wanted to do that work more directly, one person at a time, and trained as a psychotherapist. I'm completing my doctorate in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and my training includes psychoanalytic, somatic, and contemplative work.