I started my Psychology studies at Vienna University and at the Free University Berlin. There I got most of my training in Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
During my internship at the Psychological Cervices Center in SF I received some training in Brief Solution Focused Therapy.
In 2003 I completed my MA in Counseling Psychology at the California Association of Integral Studies in San Francisco. At CIIS I learned to integrate Transpersonal psychotherapy, Voice Dialogue, movement and some Expressive Arts into my work. The special focus of my degree at the CIIS was Somatics.
In my work I integrate a lot of what I have learned in my MA about utilizing the body and movement as doorways to deeper experience.
I completed the extended two year training with the Hakomi institute of San Francisco as well as the RCS (Re-Creation of the Self) training. Experience/ body- centered psychotherapy has been one of the most valuable modalities I have been lucky enough to get extensive training and experience with and many times I have been impressed by its transformational potency.
During the years I spent as an intern and as an associate at the New Perspectives Center for Counseling I also got trained in DBT- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and deepened my training and experience in Transpersonal psychotherapy.
I began my work with teenagers at my 6 months internship at the Mc Auley Institute in St Mary’s Hospital I led groups of hospitalized teens and received more training in group work and psychodynamic therapy.
During my internship with Horizons Unlimited in San Francisco in 2005, I worked as a counselor at Mission High School for the school year and widened my experience and skills in working with teens.
In my personal life I have travelled extensively and immersed myself in many different cultures and subcultures. I have studied and practiced many different approaches to meditation, from ’sitting and observing’ techniques like Vipassana to expression based techniques and have found immense benefits in both. During my many travels through India as well as during the time I spent in Europe and the Bay Area I sat with quite a few non- dualistic teachers and value bringing the transpersonal aspect into my work with clients.
I have spent a lot of time in the Osho ashram in Poona, India and during those times as well as through my experience at the group-intensives at the Humaniversity in Holland my understanding of meditation and the diversity of ways it can be deepened and integrated got completely expanded. In those centers for transformation I also and developed a deep appreciation for experiential group work.
For a year I was co-leading a bi- weekly support group for people with alternative relationship styles. During this time I learned a lot about dealing with issues specific to the dynamics specific to open/ polyamorous relationships in their different forms.
Inspired by the psychological and relational implications of the Ayurvedic approach and typology I co- created a workshop with Prashanti de Jager, who is a Ayurveda teacher and practitioner, called ‘Relationship as medicine’. We also co-taught another workshop called ‘Engaging Prana’, which focused on using prana healing on the physical body as well as on techniques for using it to shift and re-align the emotional body. We taught in San Francisco, in Marin and in Portugal. The last workshop I recently thought in Marin and got a lot of positive feedback on was about integrating different types of erotic energies and was called “The Different Faces of Eros’.
In my work with clients I would describe my style as eclectic. I like blending different therapeutic modalities depending on who I am working with and on the nature of the issues being addressed.
