ABOUT BARBARA:

Barbara is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who uses a compassionate, sensitive approach to build on your strengths and create a safe environment for you to communicate, heal, and grow. Believing that you are the expert on your life, Barbara will collaborate with you using an evidence-based and solution-focused approach to support your goals – with respect and understanding.

My Background
I have helped adolescents and adults to experience joy after struggling with depression or grief, overwhelmed individuals to find balance, and couples to reconnect. I can provide hands-on tools for you to try at home, can help you through your pain, and even help you to laugh again.

Whether personally or professionally, I show up as my authentic self so that others can also. The therapeutic relationship is so important that I offer a free 15-minute consultation to see if we’re a good fit.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

I earned my master’s in counseling psychology with an emphasis in health psychology at Santa Clara University. Under the tutelage of experts in the fields of cognitive-behavioral science, marriage & couples therapy, mindfulness, and grief & trauma treatment, I developed a good understanding what makes relationships work well, the role of hope, and how important the mind-body connection is to our overall health.

In my undergraduate program at San Jose State University, I studied neuroscience, perception, and cognition. My overarching desire is to use all that I have learned for your benefit; to help you live your best life.

TAKE THERAPY HOME WITH YOU

Some therapists will work with you in their office and hope you are able to remember the experience. I will give you clear ways to get the most out of therapy with experiential activities and tools to use in your daily life, even long after therapy has ended.

Specialization

I specialize in helping people with Anger Management, Career Counseling, Cross-Cultural Relationships, Depression, Infertility-Related Stressors, Grief & Loss, Insomnia, Intimacy & Sex Issues, Parenting, and Life Transitions.

Fun Facts About Barbara

LIFE EXPERIENCE TO SERVE YOU

I have traveled far and wide in search of cultural understanding. Getting to know people from a wide variety of perspectives, ethnicities, and physical abilities, has taught me a great deal. It has also revealed what I still have yet to learn as I have come to value and appreciate the nuances of cross-cultural relationships.

As a Christian therapist, I meet people where they are, with compassion and understanding. Prior to becoming a therapist, my professional experience included management, staffing, and children’s ministry. I also volunteered for organizations such as ABC Project Cornerstone, City Team, the Global Ischemia Foundation, Parents Helping Parents, Project Hired, and 1040i. My husband and I have been married over 20 years and live in the Bay Area with our two sons.

WHY I DO WHAT I DO

“God is the one who comforts us in all our troubles so that we are able to comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” -II Corinthians 1:4