Who am I?

Originally from the small Oregon town of Cottage Grove, Portland has been my home since 1995.

My mother is a Croatian immigrant and my father is an American. With two different languages being used in the home, and two different sets of cultural expectations, I was immersed in multiculturalism before I knew that word existed.

The experience of an immigrant in the United States is a very specific kind of experience, and being the child of an immigrant even more so. I am very happy to work with immigrants, or children of immigrants, as they adjust and acclimate to living in the United States.

I finished my graduate program at the end of 2000, and for almost nine years I worked locally in Crisis Services. It was my role to assist individuals with all manner of mental health issues including substance abuse, relationship difficulties, and life-or-death crises. I also tempered my clinical skills with the need to know how to navigate through the complicated web of insurance coverage, provider issues, managed care hassles and how all of this can make asking for help even more difficult for those in need.

I opened my private practice in 2011.

I am experienced with several different therapeutic models—some you may have heard of, others maybe not—including Emotionally Focused Therapy and Gestalt therapy.

My approach in therapy is a collaborative one. No one else is more of an expert on you than yourself.   Consequently, you are not a number or a diagnosis. You are an individual.

I tend to focus on increasing a person’s own awareness regarding their thoughts, feelings, actions and their overall environment.