Therapy from someone who gets it—on the inside.
Allergy-informed therapy in California
You’re tired of feeling like your brain is always in "scanning mode.”
Living with food allergies or caring for a child who does is a full-time job of the mind and body. It’s more than carrying an EpiPen. It’s carrying a constant, invisible weight of "what if." This is a space where that weight is fully understood, honored, and where we can work to make it lighter. You are tired of:
Having to be the constant educator and enforcer in a world that doesn't grasp the life-or-death severity.
Feeling like simple joys—birthday parties, restaurant meals, travel—are sources of anxiety, not connection.
Feeling like you’re grieving a sense of "normal" for yourself or your child, while trying to project a calm confidence.
Feeling like the relentless mental load of meal planning, label reading, and advocating is leading to burnout, irritability, or feeling alone.
Sound like you?
Struggling with hypervigilance & health anxiety: The exhausting cycle of monitoring every physical symptom in yourself or your child.
Tired of dealing with social isolation and loneliness: The impact of avoiding gatherings or feeling misunderstood by friends and family.
Ready to stop experiencing decision fatigue: The overwhelm of constantly navigating treatment protocols, new foods, and safety plans.
Wishing that you weren’t experiencing burnout and guilt: The unique fatigue of keeping a child safe, coupled with guilt over restrictions or missed experiences.
Here’s what we’ll do together
We will create a sanctuary where your food allergy experience is the expert, not an outsider. Our work is integrative and compassionate:
Process the Trauma & Anxiety: Using Brainspotting, we'll gently address the nervous system's alarm that's been wired by real threat, helping to calm the overactive "smoke alarm" of anxiety
Build a Sustainable Safety System: We'll use practical CBT tools and safety planning not to feed fear, but to create structured, confident protocols so your vigilance can become more efficient and less exhausting.
Navigate Grief & Identity: Through psychodynamic and parts work (IFS), we'll honor the losses—big and small—and explore who you (or your child) are beyond the diagnosis, fostering self-compassion and resilience.
Strengthen Your Voice & Boundaries: We'll work on assertiveness and communication skills to help you advocate with clarity and reduce the people-pleasing pressure to downplay your needs for others' comfort.
At the end of the day, I want you to know:
Your vigilance isn’t a flaw, but a learned, life-saving adaptation. My goal isn't to make you care less, but to help you carry the care with more support and less crushing weight. As someone with anaphylactic allergies, I offer not just clinical expertise, but personal understanding. Here, you never have to explain why it's a big deal.
Questions?
FAQs
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My approach is built on a foundation of lived experience and clinical specialization. I understand the specific anxieties, traumas, and daily burdens of managing anaphylaxis from the inside out. We won't treat your vigilance as irrational, but as an adaptation to real risk. Our work integrates standard therapeutic techniques with a deep, nuanced understanding of medical trauma, safety planning, and the unique social isolation that can come with food allergies.
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Absolutely. Parents and caregivers carry an immense, often overlooked, emotional load. I work with parents to address caregiver burnout, manage their own anxiety, process the trauma of past reactions, and develop confident communication strategies to advocate for their child. A supported, regulated caregiver is one of the best tools a child can have.
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This is a core focus of our work. We distinguish between productive caution (like reading a label) and debilitating anxiety (like being unable to eat at a trusted friend's house). Therapy helps contain the anxiety so it doesn't spill over and dominate your entire life. We'll develop tools to tolerate uncertainty and prevent the logical worry from spiraling into a state of panic or avoidance.
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Yes. I specialize in the broader spectrum of allergic and immune conditions, including Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE), Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), and related disorders. The emotional and logistical impacts are often similar, and I am experienced in navigating their unique challenges.
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With your written permission, I am happy to collaborate with your medical team. An integrated approach—where your mental and physical health providers communicate—can be incredibly powerful for holistic care.