Therapy for College & Graduate Students
College and grad school can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time, and for many students it's the first time they're figuring out who they are on their own. As a former university counselor and licensed clinical psychologist, I bring firsthand experience and genuine passion to helping college and graduate students navigate academic stress while protecting their mental health.
I see students in person in Bankers Hill, San Diego, and online throughout California and Hawai'i.
If you're an undergraduate student ...
College often means doing everything for the first time at once: managing your own time, your money, your friendships, your sleep, and your health, while the academic pressure keeps climbing.
Students I work with come in with anxiety before exams and presentations, low mood that's hard to explain, homesickness, the loneliness of not having found their people yet, relationships and break-ups, and the constant comparison to everyone who looks like they have it figured out. Sometimes it's the bigger question underneath: whether this major, or this path, is really yours.
We start with what's most pressing, including practical skills you can use this week, and then look at the patterns underneath it, like the perfectionism, the self-criticism, or the past wounds from childhood that can surface during this season of life.
If you're a graduate student ...
Graduate school asks something different. The timeline is years rather than semesters, the work is never quite finished, and your progress often depends on one advisor relationship you can't easily change.
Graduate students often describe feeling like the one person in the cohort who doesn't belong there, guilt about any hour not spent working, a personal life that keeps getting postponed, and a tiredness that sleep doesn't seem to touch.
Having come through a doctoral program myself, I know this world from the inside. Therapy can help you reclaim a life alongside the degree: boundaries with your program, a pace you can sustain, and space to remember who you are outside of the work.
I work with master's, PhD, medical, law, and other professional-program students. Common themes include imposter syndrome, dissertation or thesis stalls, qualifying exams, conflict with an advisor or committee, funding and financial stress, and burnout.
Available in San Diego and across California
Whether you attend UC San Diego, San Diego State University, the University of San Diego, Point Loma Nazarene University, a community college, or a campus elsewhere in California, I'm available in person in Bankers Hill or online.
If earlier experiences are surfacing
For many students, the stress of school stirs up older experiences: a difficult or unstable childhood, family conflict, or relationship wounds that were easier to keep at bay before. I offer EMDR therapy for trauma and its lingering effects, alongside depth-oriented, attachment-based therapy, and we go at a pace that works around your academic schedule.
Therapists in training
If you're training to be a therapist, you may need personal development hours for your program, and you may be finding that sitting with other people's pain surfaces your own. I work with trainees on both, and I sign the documentation programs require.
There's more on my therapy for therapists in training page.
A note for parents
If you're a parent researching support for your college student who seems to be struggling — with the transition to campus life, a mental health setback, or just not being themselves lately — you're not alone. It's common for parents to notice changes in a student before the student is ready to name them, and to feel helpless watching from a distance.
I offer a free 15-minute consultation call, which is often a low-pressure way for a student to see what therapy might look like before committing to anything. Parents are welcome to reach out first to ask questions, and I'm happy to talk through how the process works and what to expect as they get started.
I'd love to help you reach your academic goals, and feel more like yourself along the way.