I'm from Boston, Massachusetts.  I majored in Social Work in college and I vividly remember the surge of curiosity, indignation and passion I felt learning about social injustice.  I was sure I could change the world.  I spent my junior year in Spain and my love for international living, the Spanish language, and Latino culture were born.  In Spain I felt alive and rooted.  In 2000, I was off to El Salvador with the Peace Corps for a 2-year volunteer experience and then 4 more as a Program Manager.  My time in El Salvador was a ripening of my bilingual and bicultural identity, a maturing of my understanding of systematic injustice and a coming out of my first professional love—program design and management.  Perhaps most importantly, the Salvadoran people gave me an embodied experience of love, acceptance, flow and resilience.  Although I hadn't done a day of therapy in my life at that point (much less heard of IFS), by the time I left El Salvador, I knew on a subconscious level that Latin America was really good for my soul.  A coming home of sorts.  A crawling into my authentic skin. 

            Next, I spent a year in Vermont doing a Masters in Nonprofit Management.  My practicum took me to the Sacred Valley of Peru for 2 years, designing a new program and guiding more young volunteers in intercultural living and community service.  The magic of the Sacred Valley awakened my spiritual parts.  I got involved with yoga and meditation.  Peruvians’ connection to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) opened my mind to something larger, something gorgeous and big and all-loving that was in me, all around me, in fact, it was me. 

            Back to the U.S I went for a stint in Washington D.C and Maryland, where I met my beloved life partner.  I worked in a few non-profits and realized quickly that managing budgets and grants extinguished my spark.  Human interaction and connection, on the other hand, made my heart sing.  I went back to school for a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work and began to find my identity as a therapist.  My daughter was born and I was thrown into the gorgeous, turbulent waters of motherhood.  Around this time, a graduate school article turned me on to IFS.  I was immediately captivated.  The multiplicity of our personalities made complete intellectual sense to me, and the notion of Self energy brought an inexplicable peace to my chest and belly.   I found myself an IFS therapist. 

           Around this same time, my chronic hip, back and pelvic pain set in.  Living in pain brought me to my darkest moments.  And, I now know with pristine clarity that my pain was a massive gift.  It shed light onto so many of my automatic, default protective parts (perfectionism, people-pleasing, self-criticism) and my traumatized ones (terror, aloneness, nothingness).  When parts are chronically ignored, they scream.  They use pain to once-and-for-all get your attention.   I learned in the most experiential way possible that our bodies keep the score.  That our traumas and emotions live in our bodies.  And that our capacity to feel it all, re-wire it all and heal it all is innate and interminable.  As of 2021, I live pain-free.  No, I live better than pain-free. I'm more self-aware, joyful and in love with my body than ever before.  Pain is a masterful teacher when the student is willing to listen. 

           As of 2022, I live in Argentina with my husband and 2 children.  I love to run in the woods, make art (externalization of my parts!), do yoga, read, write, meditate, cook, hang out with friends, be surrounded my all things green, and go on small and big adventures with my family.  Motherhood has rocked my world.  I never knew something could be so joyous and torturous, often within 5 minutes of each other.  Parenthood provides consistent (relentless?) portals into what still needs healing in my system.  I know there is no perfect mother or flawless family, but I also know that through my healing, I have the very real and concrete power to re-route the path of my family's history.  In fact, at this stage of my life, this is my life mission statement: pass on the gifts, halt the trauma.  In the hearts of my children, the generational story of my family, the history of our culture.

           Living in Latin America continues to nourish my soul.  It’s almost as if Latino culture (along with my dear husband) has become my new, secure attachment figure. Or, perhaps, that different cultures exude slightly different flavors of Self energy, and the Latino flavor is much yummier to me, more aligned with my personal Self energy than my home culture.   The love.  The flow.  The fun.  The exuberance.  The collectiveness.  This world calms my extreme parts and enlivens my repressed ones.  Goodness me, what a gift.          

    I founded Lotus Therapy Services in 2023.  My personal journey with IFS has been the single most transformative experience of my life (motherhood and Peace Corps being close runners-up).  I’m honored to guide my clients along their healing path using this framework.  I truly believe that this work is so much more than determining diagnoses and managing symptoms.  This is the work of finding your-Self.  Of trusting in your inner wisdom and capacity to heal.  And it doesn’t stop there.  As each individual heals, our connections to each other and to Mother Earth heal.  There is no stopping the wave: intergenerational trauma heals, historical wounds soften, justice reigns, peace prevails.  So, let's do it, shall we?  Onward, upward, in light and love.