• Practice safely
• Practice in good faith
• Knowledge is power—for me, you, everyone
• Consider problems and strengths in the context of biology, development, and environment (family, school/work, community)
• View treatment as a collaborative process
• There are lots of treatment paths that can end well. Most involve compassion
• Recommend the treatment with the best evidence to create desired and sustained changes
• Education, outreach, and support are vital to the health of any community
• Transparency and communication are important for healthy treatment relationships

• Everyone deserves to feel liked and be loved
• Medication is one tool of many for helping people with psychiatric problems. It has a place in some treatments, but almost never alone
• Medication should be implemented cautiously and conservatively
• Therapy is best for many kids when it aims to be brief
• Therapists are often most effective when direct and transparent (i.e., therapy is a collaborative process, not something magical done by the therapist to the patient)
• Therapy works best when the person of focus is motivated for change
• Great treatment requires a proper initial evaluation
• Treatment choices must be supported by responsible adults. Though I will recommend the approach best supported by peer-reviewed scientific studies, choice of treatment modality is a personal/family decision. Implementing any treatment must be adapted carefully to meet the specific needs of the person or people seeking treatment
• My role is to help you or your child reach your goals by applying clinical information in the right ways and at the right times. I achieve this by adhering to my core principles

My education includes an undergraduate degree in Psychology from University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), where I was Pre-Med, minored in Biology, and had a concentration in Biopsychology. In that time, I did bench research in Biology, lab research in Psychology, and field work in caring for severely mentally ill adults, receiving several honors in these areas.

I attended University of Maryland School of Medicine, continuing to build a career path in psychiatry, including participating in an accelerated program in that field. I was given an award for Excellence in Psychotherapy upon graduation. I completed San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services’ General Psychiatry Residency program, renowned for its work in community mental health. During this time, I was awarded a fellowship in Public Psychiatry through the American Psychiatric Association. This included a national presentation in integrative care and participating in several work groups, including developing best practice guidelines in treating depression.

I graduated residency early to join Stanford University’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship program, awarded as that program’s second-ever “Community Track” trainee. This program allowed me to deepen areas of training that became integral to the work I do now. It also allowed me to work closely with some world class researchers and clinicians in pediatric mental health, and to contribute to the field’s literature through peer-reviewed publications.

By graduation, it was clear that my passion for community-based treatments were at odds with my clinical values (e.g., delivering psychotherapy, getting to know people deeply, having all treatment tools at my disposal without institutional restriction), leading to the development of my private practice model. Since then, I have continued to tweak this, but have found the core of the approach to be remarkably stable, near to my values and the community’s needs.

As a professional, I’ve embraced teaching (at Stanford and San Mateo), providing education/consultation for school counselors and pediatricians, and in presenting selectively to groups who request it. In recent years that has included groups of trainees regarding private practice development (Stanford, University of Colorado, American Psychiatric Association) and some school parent groups and corporate parent groups to discuss a host of clinical issues.

I grew up playing competitive sports, which was formative in so many ways about mindset, resiliency, group dynamics, citizenship, and work ethic. As an adult, sports have remained a large part of my identity. Added to this, my hobbies include woodworking, word games, cooking, and home repairs; but most weekends I can be found cheerleading my kids’ activities and hanging with friends.

I am passionate about this work that I get to do, but I am also passionate about lots of areas of life. Life is beautiful and it is also hard. I believe we are well-served by acknowledging and being prepared for both.