Hi, I'm Tova!
My Approach
I am trained in drama therapy, which is an experiential, active, relational and process-oriented approach to exploring and grappling with the nuances of our human experiences largely using story, symbol, and metaphor. I integrate a variety of other perspectives to provide clients with useful information and specific practices to try in their daily lives. I focus on helping clients cultivate curiosity, creativity, compassion, mindful awareness, and flexibility with themselves and others to support overall wellness and wellbeing.
I have an MA in Counseling Psychology with a Concentration in Drama Therapy. That means I have a lot of education and training in working with people. I am a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. I also have a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, an MBA, and a certificate in Integrative Nutrition from UCSD Extension.
Our experiences and behaviors occur within various (often social) contexts. That means all of your behaviors have a purpose and function within a specific context unique to you. We do not exist in isolation. The events, people, and circumstances of our lives, the meanings we give to these, and the ways we relate to them, impact our wellness and wellbeing.
I have an expansive view of behavior. Behavior isn’t just what I could observe you doing. Behaviors can also be internal: thinking, sensing, feeling, intuiting, judging, worrying, ruminating, loving, being. They way you relate to yourself is a behavior.
One strength of drama therapy is how relational it is. Drama therapy provides a way to explore relationships to others and to ourselves. As humans are a social species, forming healthy relationships is essential for wellness and wellbeing.
I take a holistic perspective on wellness and wellbeing. Important domains to address include your social connections; your relationship to your internal world of thoughts, memories, emotions, feelings, physical sensations, and urges; sleep; stress; physical activity & movement; restoration and leisure; self care; sociocultural identity; and more. These all impact you. You can think of them like invisible dynamics and forces that affect you.
Life is a process. We often operate under restrictive and limiting narratives that serve to bind our growth. You can disrupt the patterns that keep you stuck.
Wisdom
Some things to keep in mind as you navigate your unique path
I want to underscore the importance of a foundation in real whole nutrient dense food and the elimination of hyper-processed food and added sugar.
There is you and you. This is a relationship. This is the most important relationship.
When you give up the behaviors intended to shield you from discomfort it can be like ripping off a bandaid, leaving you exposed and raw to the world. This is an opportunity for your personal growth. Now you can make changes in your life that have little to do with avoidance and much more to do with your long term happiness and wellbeing.
What Can I Do for You?
My holistic approach to cultivating wellness and wellbeing includes:
Relationships
Our relationships to others and to ourselves have a profound impact on wellness and wellbeing. I help clients explore their interactional patterns and dynamics, cultivate effective and empowering communication skills, and explore inner selves and roles.
Flexibility
Being able to flexibility relate to your mind, thoughts, memories, mental images, physical sensations, feelings, and urges opens you to the expansive array of possibilities inherent in any given moment. Flexibility includes breaking the spells that keep you stuck, finding purpose and meaning, and embracing curiosity.
Embodiment
I can help you tune in to the role your body plays in wellness & wellbeing. This includes everything from sleep and diet to the role of posture in impacting the mind, the role of gesture in impacting thought, and non verbal communication.
