I am a licensed mental health therapist and psychologist with a passion for helping people heal, cultivate self-compassion, and build meaningful connections. I run a private practice in Southern California called Tamar Counseling Services with the purpose of helping individuals heal from traumatic life experiences and painful relationship dynamics. I love travel, theatre, chocolate, and humans. I am passionate about social justice and building a world wherein we embrace ourselves and one another in the truth of equality and inherent, immutable worth. 

I have spent years working in advocacy against human trafficking and have spoken as a subject matter expert on sex trafficking, domestic violence, and trauma at colleges and non-profits across the USA. I have been featured on many podcasts and in interviews for Buzzfeed, Costco Connections Magazine, MindBodyGreen, Women’s World, Scary Mommy, Health Reporter, Well&Good, VeryWellMind, Medium, Glam, First for Women, the List, Reframe, and Authority Magazine.

In my practice, I specialize in trauma treatment and have worked with numerous survivors of a variety of mass shootings. This led to my research on the unique trauma outcomes and best treatment approaches with massacre survivors, which was awarded the Sandra Wilson Memorial Grant from the EMDR Research Foundation in 2020.

My first book, Gaslighting: A Step-by-Step Recovery Guide, was released in 2021, and Trauma Recovery Workbook for Teens followed in 2022. Both are distributed through Simon and Schuster. Gaslighting is also available on audiobook and in Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Hungarian, and Turkish. Stay tuned (and sign up on my home page for notifications) for my next release!