About Me:

I grew up in Bavaria, Germany, and studied psychology and philosophy at the University of Munich, starting in 1980. I worked as a psychological assistant at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Munich with people who had severe forms of mental illness. In 1987, I completed a two-year training in Art Therapy at the Academy of Art in Munich with Elisabeth Tomalin. From 1985 to 1989 I did bodywork with a psychotherapist who practiced in the tradition of Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen. After my graduation in 1989, I came to the U.S., where I continued my education and training.

For many years, I was in psychoanalysis with two Freudian analysts. I completed a two-year training in the Hakomi method, a body-oriented psychotherapy, which was taught by Ron Kurtz. I have taken numerous workshops in existential psychotherapy with Jim Bugental, and I have participated in many therapy groups and have led intensive workshops. I have been studying the theory and practice of Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalyst, since 1994. Influenced by his work, I wrote a dissertation about the relationship between psychoanalysis and theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. I worked at the Gladman Psychotherapy Center in Montclair from 1995 to 2005, first as an intern, then as a therapist. I received my MFT license to practice psychotherapy in California in January of 2000.

Since then, I have been working with clients, traveling, gardening, and spending time in nature. I also like to read, and I teach philosophy at the California State University of the East Bay. My topics are political philosophy, ethics, anthropology, environmental studies, and metaphysics.

I am also interested in the theoretical foundations of psychotherapy. Why does it work so well? What is its place in our society, and how will it develop in the future?