Hi, I’m Shari. I’m an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT) and Certified Somatic Coach, and I’m passionate about helping people discover healing that includes both the mind and the body.
Many of us learn to live mostly in our heads—navigating anxiety, depression, or trauma by analyzing, explaining, and pushing forward. While insight is valuable, I’ve seen how true transformation happens when we also turn toward the body. The body remembers, but it also holds the keys to resilience, grounding, and renewal.
I hold a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles, and my clinical training includes somatic practices, Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, AEDP, mindfulness, and trauma-informed care. Before becoming a therapist, I became certified in the Somatica Method as a Somatic Sexologist and spent years as a sex and relationship coach, which gave me a deep appreciation for how intimacy, attachment, and identity shape our inner world. I’m also certified in Michaela Boehm’s Nonlinear Movement Method, a trauma-informed somatic modality, and certified as a dating and relationship coach for LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary folks through the Conscious Girlfriend Academy. My approach is also deeply informed by my Buddhist practice, my background in dance, 5 Rhythms, and Authentic Movement, ancestral healing, tantra, queer and feminist theory, depth psychology, and liberation psychology. Today, I integrate these experiences into my work as a therapist and somatic coach, offering a compassionate yet direct space where you can explore, heal, and grow.
In our sessions, you can expect curiosity, warmth, and collaboration. Sometimes we’ll slow down and notice the subtleties of breath or movement; other times we’ll use imagery, mindfulness, or dialogue to help you make meaning of what arises. Always, the pace is yours, and the process is about creating more safety, presence, and possibility in your life.
My Approach in a Few Words
Relational and collaborative: We work together as partners in your growth.
Somatic and embodied: The body is a vital part of every session.
Trauma-informed and compassionate: Safety and trust come first.
Affirming and strengths-based: I honor your identities, values, and lived experiences while helping you build on the resilience you already carry.
Direct and practical: We’ll focus on what helps you move toward healing and change.
If you’re ready to explore a deeper connection with yourself—and a more embodied way of living—I’d love to support you on that journey. If this approach resonates with you, schedule a consultation to see how somatic coaching might support you in feeling more grounded, present, and at ease in your life.
Important Note About Coaching vs. Therapy
While I am an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, the services described on this website are offered in the capacity of coaching, not psychotherapy. Coaching is distinct from therapy in the following ways:
Coaching focuses on present-moment awareness, growth, and skill-building. It is future-oriented and designed to support clients in integrating the body and mind, deepening self-connection, and moving toward desired goals such as greater embodiment, reduced tension or pain, or improved relationships. Coaching does not diagnose or treat mental health conditions.
Therapy, by contrast, is a clinical service that involves assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health disorders, provided within the legal and ethical framework of licensure and under the supervision of a licensed therapist (for AMFTs). Therapy may address deeper psychological issues, trauma, and patterns that require clinical support.
Sessions through this website are not psychotherapy and should not be considered a replacement for mental health treatment. If it becomes clear that therapy would better serve your needs, I will support you in finding appropriate resources, including the possibility of working with me in a therapy context under supervision if you live in the state of California.
If you’re unsure whether therapy or coaching would be the better fit for you, we can talk it through together during a consultation and clarify what kind of support will meet your needs right now.
The work of relating starts with ourselves and the people we love, but our work is incomplete unless we expand our circles of relating outward and ask ourselves, how am I relating to my community? to those I disagree with? to the natural world? to my ancestors? An important step in situating ourselves in the web of life is knowing and acknowledging the first people of the place you live, and becoming familiar with their stories.
In this spirit, I acknowledge that my home in west Los Angeles occupies the unceded lands of the Chumash and Gabrielino/Tongva peoples, who stewarded this area for centuries before their genocide, enslavement, and displacement by colonial settlers. These tribes continue to protect this land and water, maintain vibrant traditions and culture, and contribute to society in significant but often unseen ways.