Many people come to therapy after years of trying to make sense of their experiences. They have read the books, listened to the podcasts, developed insight, and learned ways to cope. Yet despite understanding why they feel the way they do, they often find themselves returning to the same relationship dynamics, emotional struggles, or ways of responding to stress.
That is because many of our deepest patterns are not stored only in our thoughts. They are carried in our nervous system, our relationships, and our bodies.
As a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in San Diego, I help individuals, couples, and families move beyond symptom management toward meaningful, lasting change. My work integrates attachment theory, trauma therapy, somatic psychotherapy, and experiential approaches that allow healing to occur where these patterns actually live.
Traditional talk therapy can provide valuable insight, but insight alone does not always create transformation.
Many emotional patterns were formed long before we had words to describe them. Early attachment experiences, trauma, loss, and chronic adaptation shape how we experience ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us.
These patterns often continue to appear as:
Our bodies remember experiences long after our minds have tried to move on.
Trauma, attachment wounds, grief, and emotional pain are often expressed through physical sensations such as tension, fatigue, anxiety, hypervigilance, or feeling emotionally shut down.
Somatic therapy recognizes that healing happens through both the mind and the body.
By paying attention to what your nervous system is communicating, therapy becomes an opportunity to create new emotional experiences instead of simply revisiting old ones.
Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from themselves.
“The Body Keeps the Score,” pp. 96–97
I am the only certified Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (PBSP) therapist on the West Coast.
PBSP is an evidence-informed, body-oriented psychotherapy designed to heal attachment wounds and developmental trauma through carefully guided experiential work.
Rather than only talking about painful experiences, PBSP creates opportunities for the nervous system to experience something different, helping unmet developmental needs be recognized and integrated in ways that can create lasting emotional change.
PBSP was featured in “The Body Keeps the Score” by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk as one of the approaches that help address trauma through the body’s capacity to heal.
For many clients who have found that insight alone wasn’t enough, PBSP offers an entirely new way of experiencing therapy.
My practice is especially well-suited for adults who are seeking more than short-term symptom relief. Many of my clients are thoughtful, capable people who have spent years trying to understand themselves.
Whether you’re looking for individual therapy, relationship counseling, couples therapy, family therapy, or trauma-informed psychotherapy in San Diego, finding the right therapeutic relationship matters. If my approach resonates with you, I invite you to schedule a consultation together, we can explore what brings you to therapy and whether working together feels like the right fit.