I am a registered psychologist with clinical endorsement, accredited by AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Authority) and by the Israeli Ministry of Health. In addition, I am a certified psychoanalytical psychotherapist (Diploma from the University of Haifa, Israel). I’ve completed a yoga teachers’ training to complement talk therapy with applied somatic practices. Most recently, I graduated from the School of Shamanic Womancraft which brings the Shamanic dimensions to wellness and growth. I am immersed in continuous studies and practice of the Buddha Dharma. 

My therapeutic education began in Canada, where I completed a Bachelor’s degree majoring in psychology (Honours) and Women’s Studies. It is there that my focus on women’s psychology became central and I completed my honour’s thesis on women’s identity development.

I trained to be a Clinical Psychologist (MA and PhD) at the University of Haifa in Israel. This training was eclectic and touched upon all current orientations to human development, psychopathology and treatment. However, the practice and the mentoring was through a psycho-dynamic approach to human understanding within a relational paradigm. Meeting our clients where they are at the moment of encounter with a clear focus on the relationship that develops between client and therapist over time. While we learned techniques to work in a short term therapy paradigm (10-20 sessions), my expertise is in long term, open ended, space holding, analytic psychotherapy.

The focus of my dissertation was the socio-cultural context of emerging adult women’s self development. I studied the dialectical way in which agency and the experience of intimacy develop women’s sense of self within their various close connections. The examination was based on attachment, cross cultural orientations and ethnic affiliations allowing for a complex of influences to emerge. As I studied both Muslim and Jewish groups, my understanding of displacement, immigration, translating one self from one ethnic group to another deepened. This exploration was similarly reflected in my clinical practice.

To deepen my clinical practice I continued to study at the School of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy – studies that were focused on learning a variety of psychoanalytic traditions, experiencing ongoing group and individual mentoring by psychoanalysts and clinical psychologists.

I was trained to treat the individuals throughout the lifespan, spanning infant and children’s emotional and social development and therapy to old age. I worked with children and their parents, separately and in conjunction. Today, my work regarding children, focuses on the treatment and guidance of parents. 

My work experience varied, but my focus of training and work (over a decade) at a clinic that treats trauma survivors. There, I encountered individuals who suffered direct trauma, inter-generational trauma and vicarious trauma.

In addition, I worked in a psychiatric setting, a community mental health clinic and held a private clinic. In those settings I saw individuals experiencing a range of complex challenges that are often diagnosed as complex trauma or labelled personality disorders as well as severe ruptures in psychological well being. 

Throughout the years, deepening into the practice of the Buddha Dharma perspective, I encourage clients to explore their spiritual path. If requested and deemed helpful I may guide breathing and meditation techniques drawing on a long term  spiritual and yogic training and practice. 

I collaborate with a range of excellent complementary medicine practitioners  working with osteopaths, acupuncturists, shiatsu practitioners, homeopaths as well as medical practitioners who are respectful of human choice and specialize in particular areas of concern. 

I practice integrating the ever deepening knowledge that the mind and heart are manifested in the body, and that all those are clearly reflected within interpersonal close relationships.