I have lived in the US since August 1995 when I came from Sweden to Arizona State University to teach Swedish, which I did for nine years. During this time I was able to complete a dream I had already in Sweden, to complete a Masters of Counseling, and become a counselor/psychotherapist in the field of addiction/mental health. I did my internship at The Meadows, AZ, 2003-2004 and found that I was drawn to work with people afflicted by the disease of addiction. I continued my career at the Betty Ford Center, as a primary counselor working with inpatient treatment for two years. My next job was for the US Navy as a substance abuse counselor for almost five years, working at an outpatient level in Japan and inpatient in San Diego, CA. My next step was to be part of a team to start up Desert Palms Recovery in Cathedral city in 2011. During these years, I returned to school, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and I completed my doctoral degree In the Philosophy of Depth Psychology with Emphasis in Depth Psychotherapy, 2017. I returned to work at Hazelden Betty Ford Center for another two years, and worked at Michel’s House in Palm Springs until 2018. During this year I also had a small private practice. I returned to the Meadows, Rio Retreat to facilitate workshops in 2018, and during this past year I realized I needed to answer to the calling for me to work as a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist, and return to work for my own private practice.

     During my years as a therapist, I found that my strength lies in working with the deeper layers of psyche. Getting my doctorate degree was the journey that solidified my belief in myself as a depth psychologist, and I am an avid follower of C. G. Jung’s creed “Your vision will become clear only when you look inside into your heart. Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside awakens”. I learned that internal representation is crucial, and how raising awareness of knowledge of psychological processes will increase our understanding of underlying, unresolved childhood issues playing a role in the creation of our adult personalities. I also learned that in order for a thought or an idea to become effective in life, it calls upon a feeling for us to recognize and become aware of it.  More so, I learned that experiential therapies are a wonderful therapeutic tool to increase having a conscious experience of personal, underlying, psychological processes. During my studies I also did my own deep psychotherapy for almost three years.

     Studying depth psychology opened up to a discovery of an 'image rhythm' of my own, and today I am able to translate this into my attentiveness as your psychotherapist. I truly believe that anyone can sign up to work their therapy successfully at this level allowing for a commitment including patience and time. Having worked my own therapy at these levels, I know the answers come, and again I am leaning on C. G. Jung who says: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious”.

     My approach to psychotherapy follows C. G. Jung’s belief, who already suggested a century ago that “possibly but fairly probable even” that spirit and matter [mind and body] are two different aspects of one and the same thing” (1972). My method is within the realm of phenomenological psychology, which studies the subjective character of the experience. The experience itself includes the subjective and physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response. I am aware how Cognitive Behavioral therapy, CBT, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, DBT, both evidence-based therapies are part of short-term therapeutic interventions particularly in the field of addiction, and how these assisting in making changes to the surface. I use these approaches sparingly now, due to my belief that there are unresolved underlying issues that drives our thoughts and behaviors, and ultimately the addiction. By acknowledging these untreated issues, with focus on form more than behavior, quality recovery becomes a gain that will not go unrecognized. I have returned to Pacifica to study for a Certificate in Psychoanalysis, which I will have completed in July of 2025.

     I live in Surprise, AZ with my husband John, and our rescue mix Lilly. I make an effort every year to travel and visit my family in Sweden. I am currently twenty four years sober from alcohol, twentytwo years from nicotine, love addiction, and co-dependency. Having had an eating disorder from a very young age, it has gradually stabilized when I got into recovery from my other addictions. At this time in my life, I have become a student again and returned to Pacifica for a post-graduate study to become a Certified Psychoanalyst, which I will have completed in July of 2025.