I earned my Master of Art degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California where I also minored in fine arts.

After graduating from USC, I spent several years working in the arts and entertainment industries as a gallery director and a television commercial and music video producer. During this period, my gift in helping others to achieve their goals was developed, but I realized my work efforts lacked deeper meaning and purpose.

It was at this time I decided to become trained as a Domestic Violence Counselor through Sojourn Services for Battered Women and Their Children. Shortly thereafter, I became a support group facilitator for survivors of domestic violence. My experience as a facilitator helped me to appreciate the value in helping women of all socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds to overcome various traumatic experiences.

While at Sojourn, I realized my life’s work was to use the therapeutic process to help women find balance and meaning in their lives. Consequently, I made the decision to leave the arts and entertainment industry to go back to school and earn my graduate degree in psychology. While in school I continued my work with Sojourn, and I also began working with Refugee Safe Haven as a case manager for immigrant and refugee victims of domestic violence.

Towards the end of my graduate school experience I expanded my concentration with women to include working with adolescents. I volunteered with Break the Cycle, a non-profit organization specializing in educating and empowering youth to help eradicate dating violence. Additionally, I worked as a school counselor with 8th grade boys onsite at CALS Middle School assisting them with issues ranging from family relationships, drugs, gangs, and transitioning into adolescence.

All of my experience and training culminated in the development of my private practice where I specialized in the Psychology of Women. Through the development of my private practice I realized that there was a need for specialized services for women. In order to meet this need, and assist more women in obtaining the life they want to live I expanded my practice into the Center for the Psychology of Women. Here, talented practitioners are able to utilize their expertise for the empowerment of women.

Degrees, Certifications, and Memberships
Pepperdine University
Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology

State of California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences
Licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist

University of Southern California
Bachelors Degree in Psychology, Minor in Fine Art graduated summa cum laude

Sojourn Services for Battered Women and Their Children
Certified as a Domestic Violence Counselor

Member of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists

Member of the Society for the Psychology of Women

Member of the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence

Member of the Silverlake Health and Wellness Association

Former Board Member of the Glendale YWCA

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I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in addiction and recovery issues, trauma, body image disturbances, and transitioning from adolescence into adulthood. I have particular experience and interest in working in LGBTQ communities.

I graduated from Hampshire College with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (Performance Art/ Feminist Theory concentration). As a dancer, I became extremely interested in and horrified by the way in which women are socialized into alienation from their bodies. I was enamored by Feminist critical theory, but always sought out more integration of body-based and mind-based practices than I experienced in either the dance world or the world of academia. My interest in the relationships between lived experience and social constructs led me to pursue studies in postmodern theory and psychoanalysis, as well as further my engagement with Feminist theory. I sought out a graduate program in Clinical Psychology that was grounded in Feminist psychoanalytic theory. My thesis work centered on post-Lacanian French Feminist psychoanalytic theory as applied to identity in queer women. I earned my Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with a Feminist emphasis from New College of California in San Francisco.

During my graduate studies, I interned at community clinics, working with clients ranging from high-functioning to severely mentally ill. In my first internship, I worked primarily with clients with affective disorders and phase of life issues. I then transitioned into a training program at a community mental health clinic headed by a Lacanian analyst who became my mentor. There, I was able to put my theoretical interests into practice, working with a largely psychotic population from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective. I worked with many indigent LGBTQ clients, in particular transgender people and queer sex workers. It was during this internship that I developed specific interest in the relationships between trauma and addiction.

After my internship, I was hired by the clinic. I developed a Dual Diagnosis program for the day treatment aspect of the clinic, focusing on trauma as an underlying feature of addictive disorders. I worked with individuals, couples, and groups. During this time, I also worked as a private practice intern, where my practice specialized in LGBTQ clients, couples, young women transitioning into adulthood, and addiction/recovery issues. As an adjunct professor in the graduate program from which I earned my degree, I instructed post-Lacanian Feminist theory and Couple Therapy courses, as well as serving as a thesis advisor.

After moving to Los Angeles, I worked with adolescent girls and their families in a level 12 residential treatment program. I also began facilitating groups at residential and outpatient addiction treatment facilities throughout Los Angeles. I was hired by an outpatient addiction treatment center to develop a psychosocial program for their patients. In addition to program development, I provided individual, couple, family, and group therapy. I then devoted my energy to developing my private practice (TRAVERSE Integrative Outdoor Therapy), in which I integrate psychotherapy and outdoor physical exercise, bringing together my interests in psychological and body-based practices. Though I love my practice, I wanted to reconnect with a group of women working to promote empowerment in other women. I am thrilled to be part of the team of vibrant women therapists at the Center for the Psychology of Women.

Degrees, Certifications, and Memberships
New College of California
Master of Arts, Clinical Psychology (Feminist Emphasis)

Hampshire College
Bachelor of Arts, Liberal Studies (Performance Art/Feminist Theory Concentration)

State of California Board of Behavioral Sciences, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Clinical Member, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists

Member, Women’s Association for Addiction Treatment

Member, San Francisco Society for Lacanian Studies

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Since coming back to reality we all feel engaged and inspired to continue the work of assisting women in living the lives they want to live.

Check out some of these photos from our adventures:

_{Learn more about The Association of Women in Psychology}
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I am a UCLA-trained board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in treating adults experiencing emotional, behavioral, or relationship difficulties. I provide diagnostic evaluations, consultations, and medication management for a broad variety of mental health issues. Women’s mental health, managing illness that can be affected by menses, pregnancy, and menopause is of special interest to me. I also focus on treatment of women during times of transition in their lives, whether hormonally mediated or non-hormonal in origin such as in relationship or situational transitions. My treatment is personalized to fit the needs of each individual patient. I believe in the significance of a collaborative process between provider and patient, as well as an active communication with the therapist to ensure that each patient receives the highest level of care.

I received my Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree with Highest Honors in Psychobiology from UCLA and minored in Armenian Studies. After obtaining my medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, I went on to complete my residency training in Adult Psychiatry at UCLA Semel Institute and Neuropsychiatric Hospital. During my residency, I received specialized training in women’s mental health, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders. Additionally, I served as chief resident of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Intensive Outpatient Program. I’m also trained in mentalization-based therapy tailored for personality disorders.

I am comfortable in treating patients with a variety of mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders.

Degrees, Certifications, and Memberships
Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

UCLA Semel Institute and Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Los Angeles
Residency in Adult Psychiatry

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
M.D.

University of California, Los Angeles
Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology and minor in Armenian Studies

Member of American Medical Association

Member of Southern California Psychiatric Association

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“What’s going on, Madeleine? What’s new?” asks Idel, an affable woman whose quick wit and limber frame belie her age.

“Nothing, as always” I say. “My life is boring.”

Idel can read between the lines, as can all of my residents. They can tell that, with an academic background in American cultural studies, I’m ill-suited and unsatisfied managing the dining room staff at this upscale Santa Monica residential community for the elderly. I love each of my residents differently, just as a granddaughter would love her grandparents in spite of and because of their eccentricities. My job is to ensure their happiness, and I daresay that I do it well; but entering a new industry along with a new phase of life has not been easy. I allowed myself to wallow in my stagnant little pond of self-pity for a fair amount of time while I whined, cried, and moped about wondering if I would ever be able to pursue my dreams and start living my life.

One day, Idel replied, “I’d give anything to switch places with you.”

In my ignorance I told her that she wouldn’t want such a thing.

“Are you kidding?” she cried. “I’d be 26 ANY day—YOU can be 94!”

She laughed at her joke; but she cut me to the core and brought to light the extent to which I was wasting my time and ultimately, my life, for a chance to live. I was letting precious time slip through my hands as if it were at my disposal and I was guaranteed anything beyond this very moment. As an ambitious, perfectionistic, workaholic who doesn’t know how to not be stressed out at all times, I approach life with a to-do list. I have treated life as a thing to accomplish rather than a space within which to live. Idel and my other residents offered me a newsflash: this, right now, is life. With my eyes now open, how will I live in every moment rather than wait for moments to live? What opportunities will I embrace? Whom will I embrace? What is and what is not worth my time?

I started taking hold of opportunities as they presented themselves and doing things that I had only given light consideration in my journal and conversations with friends. I confessed my feelings to the man I loved, flew to China on 2 days notice, reconnected with old friends, and, believe it or not, began to enjoy my job.

My residents have affected my approach to life as an employee, a woman, and a human. I see the joy, pain, frustration, and even regret in their eyes, hear it in their tired voices and in the silence of their solitude. Every day that I’m able to engage these wonderful men and women and learn about them is another opportunity to benefit from the wisdom of their reflections. I’ll never perfect the art of living; but I have promised myself to live in the moment, find the blessing in each day, and keep my residents as part of the journey.

_{“hand project o” photo by opcaity used under Creative Commons License
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