about maggie
I didn’t always want to be a therapist.
It’s true! My first love was (and is) theatre and music.I’d started playing piano at age 3, and by some stroke of luck I went to a performing arts high school, where I finally felt a sense of belonging that I’d really never had. I pursued a career in musical theatre, earning my B.A. in Theatre Arts and moving to the Big Apple just after my 21st birthday.
Long story short, NYC was a lot for a sensitive young adult like me, and within a few months I sought out a therapist. Our work together helped me so much. Soon I found myself devouring books on psychology, Eastern philosophy, and personal growth.
I’d always been a good listener, but I started to become really interested in other people’s lives, in their stories. I started to share what I’d been learning from these books and from my own therapy journey. And something clicked.
In 1999 I left New York, came back to California and enrolled in a Master’s program for Clinical Psychology.
What made me the therapist I am today?
In grad school I had a profound experience that influenced my path as a therapist.
Shortly after starting my first semester I started to develop severe panic attacks that threatened to derail my schooling and my life. I was in therapy at the time, with a wonderful therapist, but “talk therapy” couldn’t move the needle on the panic attacks. They got worse, to the point that I told her I’d have to leave the program if they persisted. Sensing my desperation, she recommended I see a chiropractor who did a kind of integrative, energy-based bodywork.
Within two sessions my panic attacks were virtually gone, and have remained so even two decades later.
I became obsessed with giving my own clients the kind of relief I’d received. I started training in therapies that were pretty “fringe” at the time — methods that incorporated the body, the nervous system, even the body’s the energy system. Today I incorporate all that I’ve learned to help my clients heal, grow, and align their lives with the values and their vision.
I love a lot — but not everything — about this work.
A lot of what I love about being an actor is also what I love about being a therapist.It’s you.
That sounds cliché, but it’s true. Understanding human nature, what makes us tick, what drives us to do what we do — especially what drives us to do things that aren’t in our best interest.
I also love — really love — our capacity for growth. Our self-consciousness can really trip us up at times, but our ability to observe ourselves is uniquely human, and allows us to develop ourselves over time to become more the people we want to be in the world.
Having values, and living by them, is uniquely human.
Behaving with intention, not just instinct, is uniquely human.
What I don’t love about this work, is the way it’s become embedded in the medical model of pathology and sickness. And the way our health insurance companies have gained more and more power to dictate your access to therapy.
Because most likely, you’re not sick.
There’s a saying, that trauma is a normal response to an abnormal experience.
A lot of us are struggling because we’re trying to stay sane in an increasingly insane world.
The truth is, you’re an amazing person. Life may have made you forget that, and a big part of my job is to remind you who you really are and to help you live truthfully, intentionally, healthily.
Education
Antioch University, Los Angeles – 2002
Bachelor of Arts, Theatre Arts
San Jose State University – 1995
Deep Coaching Intensive
Center for Transformational Coaching – 2021
Licenses + Certifications
Certified Brainspotting Therapist
Certified Deep Transformational Coach
Training
Brainspotting Levels 1-4 plus advanced trainings
(read my published article about Brainspotting here)
Advanced Integrative Therapy
(former teacher/trainer)
Acceptance + Commitment Therapy, Level 1
Emotional Freedom Technique
Trauma-Sensitive HeartMath
Gottman Method, Level 1
100-hour Meditation Teacher Training
(in process)
When I take my therapist hat off...
I balance my therapy practice with a thriving career as an actress and musician, performing all over the country. I especially love playing bluegrass and traditional Irish music.
Favorite vital document: passport
Travel is in my blood! Ever since my first backpacking trip to Europe after high school, I’ve taken every opportunity to see the world. Next on my wish list: Morocco and India.
