(425) 646-8665Who Am I And How Did I Come to Be This Way?
Here is how I came to be who I am professionally. I'll start with the ending: I have been a psychologist in private practice since 1995. During that time I have worked a diverse range of clients, to address a broad array of issues.
Practicing in Bellevue in the heart of the tech industry, I have worked with people from many different countries. I have worked with many LGBT clients over the years, and with people from many different religions and backgrounds. I believe that part of my role is to work to understand the unique experience of each person who comes to see me.
My Education
- 1995 Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology University of Illinois
- 1993-1994 Clinical Psychology Internship Indiana University School of Medicine
- 1989 M.A. in Clinical Psychology University of Illinois
- 1984 Bachelor of Science in Civil and Structural Engineering, With High Honors, Princeton University
- 1980 Redmond High School, Redmond, Washington
How Am I Wired and What Shaped Me?
I have always had strong interests in math and science, combined with a passion for literature, history, psychology, and philosophy. Every year during high school I went to fiction and poetry writing camps, but my bachelor's degree is in structural engineering. In my work as a psychologist I blend these two sides. On the one hand, I am logical and I am constantly trying to figure out how things work. On the other hand, I believe that we are deeply emotional creatures, and that love and human connection are at the heart of what makes us happy and what gives life meaning.
My mental health experience began in 1980 with extensive volunteer involvement in the Princeton Peer Counseling Program. I was involved as a participant, a program coordinator and a trainer of new counselors during all four years of college. I was getting an engineering degree while spending most of the rest of my time teaching counseling skills and coordinating a peer counseling program.
After two years back in Seattle designing freeway ramps and bridges, I went to graduate school in clinical psychology, at the University of Illinois. My dissertation was on the experiences of low income African American men entering the workforce after high school. The heart of this work involved interviews trying to understand the experience of young men around race and poverty and hope versus hopelessness in Champaign, IL. Again, part of what I bring to my work as a therapist is a deep value for understanding experiences different from one's own, and a sense that the heart of human connection is empathy and understanding the experiences of others..