About me…

Below I share a little bit about myself. If you want to read feedback in my clients’ own words, go here.

 

At heart…

I’m just a tender-hearted, squishy person. I recognize in all of us the same longings, to be seen and understood and loved, to truly belong, for who we really are.

I hope to inspire those who cross my path to honor this longing in all of us, in our families and the wider community.

I believe we all want to inspire the same in our children, to support them becoming individuals full of compassion, empathy, collaboration, kindness, generosity, creativity, depth, authenticity, equanimity, and connectedness.

I want to collaborate with you to see these intentions come to life.

 

My education:

I have a degree in Social Change and hold the Child Development Master Teacher Permit for the state of CA (which qualifies me to teach young children and supervise other teachers). I am also trained as a parenting educator: I’m a Certified Echo Trauma-Informed Nonviolent Parent Educator and have completed my training in RIE Foundations. Since early 2020 I’ve participated in a nonviolent parenting support group, to learn the skill of group facilitation, under the mentorship of Ruth Beaglehole. I have facilitated groups of my own for over 2 years now, and I learn new things constantly from doing. In 2023 I completed my training in NeuroAffective Touch, a modality centering the use of therapeutic, nurturing touch developed by Aline LaPierre, and am currently working toward becoming a certified NATouch practitioner. In 2023 I completed Gabor Maté’s Compassionate Inquiry (CI) professional training program and the subsequent 6-month CI Mentorship program, and am currently working toward certification as a CI Practitioner. In 2023 I obtained my certificate in Focusing/Felt-Sensing, a somatic modality that helps with embodiment and radical self-acceptance, and my studies continue this year. My overwhelming enthusiasm for NeuroAffective Touch (which has stolen my heart!) has led me to make 2024 the year of studying the body, so I am making myself knowledgeable in bodywork, through both Ortho-Bionomy® and the School of Integrative Psycho-Structural Bodywork (IPSB). In early 2024, I completed “Entering the Healing Ground”, a 5-month grief ritual leadership training with Francis Weller. Along the way I obtained a Life Coach certification as well.

I am also a voracious reader and have educated myself extensively, having pored over what some would call an unreasonable amount of the academic literature and read over 200 books on psychology, trauma, child development, parenting, education, social justice, and spirituality. I’ve been called a walking library.

And, most importantly, my own journey as a parent has been the most important part of my education! Being a parent brings up all the things!!!

 

I believe…

Whatever knowledge I may bring to the table, I see the education piece as only part of my role. Parents may need information to fill in missing pieces in their knowledge base, but at the end of the day, parents are the ones who know their own hearts, and who their children are.

The answers you seek cannot come from me, but will come from listening inside to your own deep knowing. I hope to help you uncover these truths, in a safe container of compassion & nonjudgment, bound by accurate knowledge of child development.

Many parents find themselves at the place where they know who they want to be as parents, but they struggle to make that a reality. I hope I can help you discover what gets in the way of your intentions.

 

I’m ready when you are!

First let’s acknowledge: I’m a human being and no amount of training will change that my ability to be present with you will be circumvented by my own past, my own limitations, my own triggers, and where I am in my own healing journey. I will call on all my skill, honesty, and vulnerability to be clear with you about my limitations as we encounter them. I will never pretend to know something I don’t or to be capable of something I’m not. If I’m not sure, I’ll let you know that, too. You and I can decide if we think it’s worth exploring together, maybe something that we learn collaboratively through a mutual dedication to honesty and vulnerability—and I’m great at connecting you with additional resources if you’d like.

We evolved to need other humans accompanying us on our life’s journey through growth and healing. It is my intention to show up alongside you as another human being in whatever way I can. I will draw on the knowledge base and wisdom gained from much training and reading. But, ultimately, my intention is just to be a person who is truly present, with compassion, to you and all your inner parts, seen and unseen, heard and unheard.

I hope that our time together is an enriching component in your journey through healing, parenting, and exploration of self.



Want to know if we’ll be a good match?
Book a free 30-min discovery call so we can find out!

 

See you
soon!
<3

 

“Our first question should be ‘What do children need?’—followed immediately by ‘How can we meet those needs?’—and from this point of departure we will end up in a very different place than if we had begun by asking, ‘How do I get children to do what I want?’”


— Alfie Kohn, Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community

Also…

(since you scrolled this far!)

I’m queer and my wife and I are both non-binary. To be more specific, we don’t really do gender—it contributes nothing to our identities. We’re just people who are the way we are, whatever that is. We’ve been married for 18 years and we have a 4yo. I am half Cuban and first-generation American on my dad’s side. I unfortunately did not grow up speaking Spanish, and am not fluent. There was a period of about 8 years in my adult life, before becoming a parent, when I spent most of my time learning about historic architecture and Craftsman building techniques, and training as a woodworker, using chisels and other antique woodworking tools and methods. My favorite thing about traveling is visiting very old buildings in which to marvel, take tours, and photograph everything! My earliest dream (since I was ~3yo) was to sing, and I still love to sing & play guitar. My second dream was to be a writer. There were many years I thought this one was just gone. But lately I’ve begun to trust that there is a book waiting to be written by me in the not-too-distant future! I have more interests than I have time to nurture—as a fellow parent, you already know this!—but I grew up drawing, painting, sculpting and crafting, and took art classes as electives almost every semester in undergrad. I don’t spend much time making art lately, but I squeeze it into the margins when I can.

A slow-brewing passion project that I am working on with Skye Johnson, is development of a curriculum for preschool and kindergarten teachers, to help them foster an environment of radical inclusion. Our goals, if our curriculum is widely adopted, are to reduce the rates of depression and somatic illnesses that research shows are the outcome of ostracism/rejection, and to reduce the rate of youth suicide and school shootings. We are inspired by Vivian Paley’s work, especially her book You Can’t Say You Can’t Play, and the work of Francis Weller, among others.