Therapy in Houston, online in Texas and Vermont, and coaching worldwide for deep relational recovery.
Beyond just talking “about” or analyzing…
A little about me…
I am a work in progress…
I understand the messy, beautiful complexity of relationships — and how past small or big relational wounds and legacy of dysfunctional family dynamics can echo into the present.
I am living many lives: mom, life long student, immigrant, friend, therapist, artist, client, and a fellow traveler. I deal with my own inner critic and sit with the chaos of uncertainty. I’m on this journey too — growing, grieving, healing, and becoming. One moment at a time. A little wiser. A little braver. Or not. And wildly in awe of the human spirit.
I’m a mom to two amazing adult children who continue to teach me about love and letting go.
I walk and dance to process life. I’m a lover of expressive arts therapies. Movement, yoga, art and nature-my medicine.
Books, trainings, lectures- I am an addict:)
I speak fluent Russian.
I believe therapy can feel like coming home to yourself — playful, unfiltered, radically honest, creative, at times uncomfortable and tiring. But it is a place where all of you is welcome.
“You can’t think your way into a new role. You act your way into it.”
At the heart of my work is a simple belief: no technique is more important than one human being genuinely meeting another. Healing happens through real contact — being seen, felt, and responded to — not through perfect insight or doing therapy “right.”
I work from a systemic, relational, and trauma-specialized perspective. That means we look together at how each person in a couple or family both shapes and is shaped by the others. Over time, these interactions form a cycle of contact. When that cycle becomes painful or corrosive, my role is to help you slow it down, recognize the pattern, repair inevitable ruptures, and find your way back to connection.
Therapy with me is:
Intentional and caring
Relational and direct
A safe place to experiment with new roles, boundaries, and ways of being — not just talk about change, but feel it and practice it
Therapy with me is not a quick fix for discomfort, nor is it simply being handed tools and sent on your way. It’s also not passive listening without response. I’m engaged, responsive, and present with you in the work.
I am as human as you are. We may fall out of sync at times — and when we do, we notice it, name it, and repair it. That process itself becomes part of the healing. We move back into contact together.
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My Approach: Science-Based, Experiential, and Direct
I continuously train in and integrate some of my favorite neuroscience-informed, relational approaches that foster deep transformation:
GESTALT THERAPY
My foundation and go-to for holistic, here and now, somatically centered, relational work. Gestalt therapy promotes embodied awareness, emotional regulation, and self-responsibility. It helps you contact your authentic needs, give voice and integrate different parts of yourself, and cultivate true contact and clear boundaries.DEEP BRAIN REORIENTING (DBR): Deep Brain Reorienting is a neuroscience-based therapy that targets the brainstem's response to shock, working at a level of the brain that activates before emotion or conscious thought and defensive behaviors.
PSYCHODRAMA and RELATIONAL TRAUMA REPAIR SOCIMETRICS :
Brings your inner world to life through action. This method moves implicit dynamics into explicit, allowing you to rewrite how old experiences live in your body and mind.Experiential approaches help in real time:
Externalize and clarify inner conflict.
Process relational pain in a safe and guided way.
Rewire attachment injuries by expressing and contacting your unmet needs.
Build capacity for intimacy, vulnerability, and secure connection.
Reconnect with spontaneity, choice, and self-trust.
RELATIONAL LIFE THERAPY by Terry Real:
RLT is structurally phased approach that helps break toxic intergenerational patterns, address power imbalances, and build relational mindfulness and integrity. It builds on systems theory, attachment work, feminist theory, and neurobiology heal early wounds, and foster healthy, skillful intimacy.It’s bold. It’s direct. And it works when both people are ready to drop the blame and learn mindful loving.
RELATIONAL LIFE COACHING
What’s the difference between RLT Therapy and Coaching?
Relational Life Therapy goes deep—healing past wounds and changing long-standing patterns that get in the way of connection. Relational Life Coaching is more focused on skill-building, clarity, and action.If you’re generally steady and just want to level up your relationship, coaching helps you sharpen your skills, get real with each other, and start showing up differently. It’s about clarity, action, and building the kind of relationship you both want.
PRAGMATIC EXPERIENTIAL THERAPY FOR COUPLES, by Brent Atkinson:
PET-C combines structured, neuroscience-based tools with experiential learning and at-home practice. Drawing from the work of John and Julie Gottman and Sue Johnson (EFT), this method helps couples build emotional regulation, break unhelpful patterns, and practice effective, respectful communication.SOLUTION FOCUSED SINGLE SESSION MODEL: strengths based, one-session approach to create clarity, momentum, and practical next steps.
SSM works best for decision-making:
Boundary-setting
Coping with acute stress
Next-step clarity
Reducing overwhelm
Managing relational conflict
Reframing and relief from stuck narratives
Not appropriate for:
High risk (SI/HI)
Complex trauma processing
Attachment-based restructuring
Consistent relational repair work
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Masters of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy.
University of Houston-Clear Lake, 2018
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Texas #203326
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Vermont # 100.0134503
Certified Gestalt Therapist, Gestalt Institute of the Rockies, CO
Relational Life Therapy Coaching, Terry Real, (in certification process)
Deep Brain Reorienting, Frank Corrigan, (Level 1, 2)
Gestalt Therapy in Clinical Practice, Certificate of Professional Development– Institute of Contemporary Psychology and Psychotherapy, Russia
Psychodrama Training, Susan Powell, Centerwood Training Institute, Austin, TX, 2019-2021.
Relational Trauma Repair (RTR)- Sociometrics, Tian Dayton
Internal Family Systems (IFS), Frank Anderson
Shame and Trauma-Focused Trainings, Janina Fisher.
Pragmatic/Experiential Method for Improving Relationships (PET-C), Brent Atkinson
Gottman Method-Level 1
Infidelity Recovery Training, Gina Watson
Expressive & Holistic Modalities
Expressive Arts Therapy (Multimodal) – Russia
Reiki – Level 1 & 2
Yoga Teacher Training – 200-hour certified