I was trained as an adult psychiatrist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where I completed both medical school and residency and later worked in the University Mental Health clinic, treating students, residents, and fellows.

Since starting a private practice in 2010, I have actively sought out opportunities for training and supervision in a range of cognitive and behavioral therapies.  I have attended the International OCD Foundation’s Behavioral Therapy Training Institute for learning Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), as well as trainings in Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT), Rumination-Focused Exposure and Response Prevention (RF-ERP), Written Exposure Therapy for PTSD (WET), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and compassion-based therapies, among others.  I am Level-3 certified in TEAM-CBT, a powerful approach to structuring therapy developed by Dr. David Burns and incorporate the TEAM-CBT structure into all of my work, even as I pull on methods from a broad range of therapies, tailoring my work to each individual.  I’m well aware that no single approach works for everybody, and I enjoy getting creative in order to meet someone’s needs.

From 2017 to 2020, I served as co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Clinic and took charge of teaching and supervising third-year psychiatry residents in the implementation of cognitive behavioral therapies for anxiety disorders.  I remain on the volunteer faculty at Johns Hopkins and continue to present a short series of lectures annually to the third-year residents on recent developments in psychotherapy.

Over my years in private practice, as I’ve observed what’s worked–and what hasn’t worked–for the many individuals who’ve come to me for help, I’ve had to set aside some of the messages that were drummed into me during my psychiatric training.

In 2020, my new insights led me to the rogue decision to stop prescribing medications and to focus, instead, on offering individually tailored psychotherapy.  I have since also made the decision to offer coaching in addition to psychotherapy, as the philosophy in coaching of focusing on a person’s strengths rather than their symptoms or diagnoses resonates deeply with my own philosophy.  It also allows me the freedom and pleasure of being able to work with people all over the world.

In addition to being a psychiatrist, I’m a mother, a spouse, a cat-lover, and a would-be writer and philosopher.  I’ve overcome my own struggles with anxiety and relationship challenges, and I’m excited to be your guide in doing the same.