How I work

As a therapist, I bring an attuned and open-hearted presence to the therapy room. My energy is often described as “calming,” but I also arrive as a real person each session so that you may too. & as a social worker, I remain a creative ally and fierce advocate rooting for you through it all. My gift is in listening deeply to others in order to offer a new perspective and insight into patterns keeping them stuck.

My approach to therapy is eclectic but mostly relational, psychodynamic, trauma-informed, and attachment-focused. I help people understand themselves better, and how their past experiences and the systems they exist in impact their relationships and patterns today. I often pull from parts work/IFS, narrative therapy, and somatic strategies to bring some symptom relief or a new lens to consider. I am committed to supporting people in shaping lives that feel authentic and meaningful to themselves.

Hello and welcome to my website!

I’m Samantha (she/her), an associate clinical social worker and soft-spoken Scorpio in Oakland with an affinity for introspection, sincere connection, and resilience-strengthening.

I work with individual teens and adults in California. My practice focuses on working with folks with intersecting identities as well as people navigating complex trauma, eating disorders/body image struggles, and young people experiencing life transitions. I work especially well with people wanting to break cycles of trauma, folks who are ready to feel safe in their bodies for the first time, over-thinkers who are ready to FEEL, and twins (I'm one too)!

I believe clients can feel safer and braver when their therapist’s values and identities are not entirely in the dark. (Some of) my identities include: mixed-race, queer, ciswoman and twin with family from the MidWest and the Japanese diaspora. My work is shaped by liberatory frameworks and I am committed to antiracism through my own learning and unlearning practices. I believe community is key to healing and healing within ourselves helps the collective. I receive weekly therapy and/or consultation around ensuring competence and navigating privilege and the power dynamic that exists between clients and therapists.