I’m an English-speaking therapist in Cologne and have a private practice for couples therapy and psychotherapy pursuant to the German Alternative Medical Practitioners Act (Heilpraktikergesetz). I hold an alternative medical practitioner’s license (Heilpraktikererlaubnis) to practice psychotherapy in Germany.
From a young age I have been fascinated by what drives people. I have been curious about people’s deepest desires and insecurities and how they affect a person’s personality and behavior. Due to my shame about my own personal challenges, it took me a while to realize how helpful psychotherapy can be. Once I embraced and accepted help for myself, I realized that I wanted to be a psychotherapist. As I stepped into that role, it became clear that this work meets me in the areas of authentic communication, emotional bonding, relational repair, and creative expression.
Education
I graduated with a Master of Arts in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 2014. I received training in depth-oriented psychotherapy and Gestalt therapy at the Church Street Integral Counseling Center in San Francisco for two years. Then I was a member of the Bay Area Gestalt Institute (BAGI) for four years. As of 2016, I am licensed in California as a Marriage and Family Therapist. I had a private practice in the Mission District of San Francisco until the end of 2019. As of the beginning of 2020 I am still offering online / video (telehealth) sessions for California residents.
Background
I grew up in Germany and lived in the United States from 1996 to 2019, seventeen of those years in San Francisco. A lot of my personal growth work has been around processing the guilt and shame associated with the history of Germany. Now that I was finally able to accept my own German identity and reintegrate it for myself years later, I have returned to Germany and have been running a counseling and therapy practice for English- and German-speaking clients in Cologne since early 2020. I have a license to practice psychotherapy as a Heilpraktiker (healing arts practitioner), issued by the City of Cologne Department of Health.
Power & Privilege
One topic that’s really important to me as a therapist and as a human is oppression and privilege. I spend a lot of time thinking and raising awareness about racism, sexism, heterosexism, pronatalism, singlism, etc. I identify as a white, cisgender, heterosexual, childless woman. My pronouns are she / her.
Find out more about how I work here.
Trainings attended:
Training for Gestalt Supervisors, Instituut voor Communicatie vzw, Kortrijk, Belgium: Fall 2023 – Fall 2025
Relational Life Therapy Level 1 with Terry Real, Relational Life Institute, Arlington, MA, USA (online): January 16-30, 2024
Embodied Anti-Racist Intensive for White Bodies, Education for Racial Equity, New York, NY, USA (online): December 9-12, 2023
Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism, Education for Racial Equity, New York, NY, USA (online): May 3-10, 2023
Gestalt Therapy, Trauma und Polyvagal Theory with Christian Fuchs, GestaltWerk, Augsburg, Germany: October 28 & 29, 2022
IFS Level 1 (Internal Family Systems), IFS Institute Munich, Cologne, Germany: January – October 2022
EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) Core Skills, EFT Community Deutschland, Berlin, Germany: May – September 2022
Kriegsenkel (Grandchildren of the War) – Training for Therapists and Counselors, Kriegsenkel e.V., Hamburg, Germany (online), October 30, 2021
EFT Immersion Course, EFT Community Deutschland, Berlin, Germany (online): January – June 2021
Melting the Shame Freeze: Using Somatic Techniques to Create Safety and Build Attunement, Center For Healing Shame, Berkeley, California, USA (online): May 15 & 22, 2021
Healing Shame in Couples: Undoing the Fear/Shame Bind, the Main Barrier to Love, Attachment, and Connection, Center For Healing Shame, Berkeley, California, USA (online): April 24 & May 1, 2021
Impasse Therapy: Gestalt’s Elegant Way of Dealing With an Impasse, Bay Area Gestalt Institute, San Francisco, California, USA (online): April 10, 2021
Through the Looking Glasses: Using Imaginal Resources to Heal Shame, Center For Healing Shame, Berkeley, California, USA (online): November 13 & 20, 2020
EFT Externship (Emotionally Focused Therapy), EFT Community Deutschland, Berlin, Germany (online): September 2-5, 2020
EMDR Basic Training, The Parnell Institute, San Rafael, California, USA: January – December 2019
Somatic Experiencing with Peter Levine, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California, USA: April 27-28, 2019
Intersectionality and Positionality in Contact – A Subjective Dialogue Using Gestalt Therapy, Bay Area Gestalt Institute, San Francisco, California, USA: November 10, 2018
Restorative Justice and Peacemaking Practices: A Workshop with Sonya Shah & Guests, The Ahimsa Collective, San Francisco, California, USA: October 20-21, 2018
Healing Shame Core Workshop, Center For Healing Shame, Berkeley, California, USA: September 22-23, 2018
AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) Immersion Course, AEDP Institute, San Francisco, California, USA: November 13-17, 2017
The Therapist as Relational Artist—A Daylong with Rich Hycner, Bay Area Gestalt Institute, San Francisco, California, USA: November 5, 2016
A Relational Approach to Gestalt—A Daylong with Lynn Jacobs, Bay Area Gestalt Institute, San Francisco, California, USA: November 7, 2015
Healing Shame Relationally—A Training with Gary Yontef, Bay Area Gestalt Institute, San Francisco, California, USA: February 21, 2015
Conferences attended:
14th EAGT Gestalt Conference: Gestalt Therapy as an Engine of Change, European Association for Gestalt Therapy, Madrid, Spain, September 21-24, 2023
D-A-CH Conference in Vienna (online): Guideline For a(n) (im)Proper Life (Three Nations Conference for Gestalt Therapy), German Association for Gestalt Therapy (DVG), Vienna, Austria, May 14 – 16, 2021
Existential-Humanistic Institute Conference w/ Dr. Alfried Längle, Existential-Humanistic Institute, San Francisco, California, USA, November 30 – December 1, 2018
AAGT-Southwest Annual Conference: Exploring Emergent Self in the Group Context, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, Muir Beach, California, USA: September 7-9, 2018
AAGT-Southwest Annual Conference: Privilege and Lack: Exploring Ourselves and Our Impact as Therapists in the Room and in the World, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, Berkeley, California, USA: October 13-15, 2017
AAGT-Southwest Annual Conference: What Makes a Group a Gestalt Group? Using Ourselves as the Learning Medium, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, Malibu, California, USA: October 28-30, 2016
AAGT-Southwest Annual Conference: Sharing Our Work: A Small Group Experience, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, Muir Beach, California, USA: September 25-27, 2015
AAGT-Southwest Annual Conference: Main Conference, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, Oakland, California, USA: October 10-12, 2014
12th Biennial International Conference, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, Pacific Grove, California, USA: September 3-7, 2014