Kintsugi, the Japanese ceramics-technique, joining Brokenness with Beauty.
My Journey . . . From a young age I have been drawn towards grappling with the Bitter-Sweet, that borderland where one location does not exist without the other; where opening to heartache as well as joy is a pathway to healing. Loss and love, rupture and repair, empowerment and numbness are terrain I have come to hold with tender curiosity and appreciation, for these places deepen my sense of humanity, compassion, aliveness and beauty. I have found that the practice of somatic wellness provides a supportive and enduring process when entering the Bitter-Sweet. Growing up with white skin, in a lower-income household, raised by a single mother, and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, I encounter both a sense of belonging and feeling "other-ed". From a young age, I understood that I could easily hide my Jewish identity in threatening places, and that white skin is a privileged skin color. Yet this understanding of privilege and my white supremacy socialization was relatively superficial well into my 20s. While earning my Bachelor of Arts Degrees (1986), I read J. Feagin's Discrimination American Style, and Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis. These publications, along with ongoing studies and trainings, have opened up greater insight into how race impacts my life, including how I have been socialized to ignore my racial privilege and maintain (unwittingly) a kind of complicity in upholding racism. My struggles with and growth from trauma have taught me that healing is a lifelong commitment, often supported by compassionate listening and social justice activism. 
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Academic Qualifications & Professional Experience
I hold a Master's Degree in Psychology (Antioch University, 1999) and a BA in Social Work and in Literature (University of California, Berkeley, 1986) . I began teaching at Cuesta College within the Addiction Studies, Social Work & Human Services Department in 1996. In addition to teaching, I facilitate professional development workshops. Most recent workshop topics include:
Additional Professional Qualifications I am a Certified Focusing Practitioner through the International Focusing Institute & completed a 2-year Focusing-Oriented Therapy Training with the British Focusing Association. |
