About Mike

Authenticity, Honesty & Openness

When you’re looking for a therapist, you want someone who you can trust and feel comfortable with. After all, this person is going to be hearing a lot of the different thoughts and feelings that you might have never shared with anyone else before. That’s why I feel like it is important for you to know some things about me right off the bat. Let’s level the playing field a bit and make this less of a doctor (which I’m not) to patient kind of relationship, and more of a human-to-human relationship.

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My Mental Health Journey

I got into this field mostly after my own lived experience of mental health challenges and subsequent therapy treatment. For a good part of my life, I just felt like there was something missing. Like everyone else got this guidebook of how to live and be happy and I missed that day of orientation. I felt trapped in my own perspective, but I didn’t really want to share about it with anyone else because I didn’t think anyone else would understand or that I would be judged.

Long story short, keeping it to myself became an increasingly ineffective and unhelpful strategy. Nothing was changing, and a lot of things were getting worse. From an outside perspective I appeared to be doing pretty well, but internally I was suffering deeply. It built up to the point that I eventually started reaching out for support and was connected with a few different therapists. After a bit of trial and error I was able to find a therapist who seemed to really understand my experience.

As I leaned into this and shared more, I was able to start to get to know myself in a whole new way as well as shift some perspectives and ideas that weren’t benefitting me. It was life changing! Feelings that I had felt for years and thought would be a permanent part of my life shifted and resolved. It felt like I could breathe again, that I could see color come back into the world after living in black and white for years. Serendipitously, this was also while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I thought about what a huge impact therapy had on me and decided that I wanted to be a part of other’s healing and growth as well. So began my journey to become a therapist.

Who I am as a therapist

My perspective on what makes therapy most effective is when there is an honest, genuine relationship that exists between myself and those that I work with. This requires that I show up as my authentic self. How could I expect you to do this if I don’t do it as well? This does not mean that your therapy time is ever about what I’m going through in my life. This is your time and you are the focus. What this does mean is that if I am having a strong reaction to something that is happening in the session, I’ll let you know. I’ll share what is happening for me in order to help you to connect more to what you are feeling and experiencing.
I also believe that you deserve direct and honest feedback. I believe that your relationship with me is a microcosm of the relationships that you have with the rest of the people in your life. If I am having a certain experience of you or of our dynamic, that’s valuable information for you to understand about yourself and how you show up in those other relationships. To be able to process this directly and talk really openly and honestly about what is happening in our sessions is part of the practice of stepping into the most authentic version of yourself.
I am typically more nondirective in sessions, meaning that I will follow your lead while also being mindful of what you are working towards and helping to relate our conversations back to this overall goal. When applicable, I may also give some practical suggestions or strategies that you can utilize to tackle some of the issues that may be happening in your life that align with your goals and values.

What I Believe

You deserve to be understood and truly seen for who you are, imperfections and all.
There are many pathways to a meaningful and satisfying life, and these paths are different for everyone. There is no right way to do it.
I won’t tell you what you should do or what the right decisions are for you for your life at this moment. It is up to you to make the choices that feel best for you.
You’re allowed to mess up and make mistakes. In fact, these are some of the best ways to learn about yourself and how to improve.
Our realities and worldviews are constructed by our experiences and can change and adapt over time. Your brain has the power of neuroplasticity. Anything negative can be unlearned.
Your values and morals help to guide you in the way that you want to live your life with integrity. I’ll help you to identify these values and work towards aligning your actions to them.
Emotions are welcome here and are meant to be felt. An incredibly cheesy therapy saying that I believe wholeheartedly is “What we resist, persists. What we can feel, we can heal.” The Latin origin of the word emotion is the word Emovere: “to move out or remove.” To allow your emotions to move through you or move out of you, they have to be felt.
Humans are social beings and we crave for meaningful connection with others. One of the key ways of building connection is by being vulnerable, which can be uncomfortable, but also deeply healing and meaningful.
Your background is a fundamental part of therapy. Your gender, gender orientation and presentation, sex, ethnicity, race, SES, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, education, family history, nationality, relationship type and status and job, political views and religious beliefs all play a major role in who you are. These factors deserve to be recognized, honored and discussed openly. It is also important to acknowledge the differences or commonalities that you and I may have and how this impacts our relationship.

Education and Credentials

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #128333 (Licensed in 2022, have been practicing since 2016)
Master of Science in Counseling, California State University, Fullerton, 2018
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Sonoma State University, 2014
Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Proficient Status earned in 2020
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional- 2022
EMDR Trained- 2023

Have any more questions? Reach out to me and I'd be happy to answer anything else you're curious about.

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Types of Therapy I Practice

EMDR
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Internal Family Systems
Person-Centered
Gestalt
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Motivational Interviewing
Mindfulness-Informed Techniques
Group Therapy

Who I am Outside of Therapy

While I am originally from the Bay Area, I currently live in Southern California with my wife and son. In my spare time I enjoy playing bass and guitar, spending time with friends and family, snowboarding and wake surfing, reading, painting, playing video games, watching the Warriors and playing (and often losing at) fantasy football. I also love traveling and spending time in other countries and learning about different cultures and ways of living.