Hi, I’m Anna. I use she/they pronouns. I earned a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University where I specialized in Applied Community Psychology and focused my studies on health-related self-advocacy and the impact of chronic pelvic pain on people's lives. I also have a Masters in Fine Arts in Public Practice from Otis College of Art and Design, a program rooted in feminist performance and activist ethics, where I learned from second and third wave feminist artists and Black Lives Matter movement leaders about creative community engagement and organizing. My work as a therapist is informed by a long commitment to creative practice and work towards social change. My own questioning of dominant ideas about what it means to be an artist, led me from working in the arts to becoming a therapist.

Knowing I wanted to take a non-pathologizing, collaborative, and empowering approach to therapy, I trained in Narrative Therapy at Miracle Mile Community Practice. Narrative Therapy understands the power that stories have in making meaning in our lives, takes the position that the person is not the problem - the problem is the problem,* sees problems as situated in larger social/cultural/systemic contexts, and prioritizes people’s values and hopes as key to their agency in relation to the problems they face. 

My lived experience navigating a lifetime of chronic pain, including chronic pelvic pain, informs my passion for working with others navigating similar pains and gives me an acute understanding of the many ways this type of pain impacts our lives. Chronic pain is not just a physical experience, it's emotional and relational. Knowing that both physical and emotional pain can be held in our bodies, I am committed to ongoing learning in somatic approaches, aiming to better invite the stories our bodies hold to be told.