Pronouns

she/her

Akin Location

Virtual and In-home care in the San Francisco Bay Area

Education/Certification
Doctor of Physical Therapy

Apparatus Pilates instructor (Certification through ITT Pilates)

Manual Therapy, Visceral mobilization, patient education, therapeutic exercise, neuromuscular retraining

mission statement

To be a knowledgeable navigator to help folks find their path to wellness and better pelvic health.  

Specific Expertise

Sexual health conditions, pelvic pain, urinary and bowel dysfunction, perinatal care.

How did you decide to become a pelvic floor therapist?

Like many people I had never heard about pelvic floor physical therapy until I met a pelvic floor physical therapist. I was working as a physical therapy aide before going to physical therapy school and the clinic I was working at hired a PFPT to start a pelvic health program. She gave a brief talk to the clinic about what she did and from that moment on I knew that was what I wanted to do. After PT school I worked as an orthopedic physical therapist for three years and then moved into pelvic health and have loved this little niche of the physical therapy world!

what do you love about collaborative care?

Most folks have more than one healthcare provider and working in an explicitly collaborative model facilitates integration of different modalities of care in a way that elevates the patient experience and helps patients reach their goals faster and more thoroughly.

what excites you about virtual and in-home care?

I love getting to work virtually and in-home with patients because it allows me the opportunity to work with people in the environment that they spend most of their time and problem solve at the course. I also get to meet people’s pets!

what does a typical session with you look like?

I always start with a check-in. On the first visit this is usually a longer conversation about your history and what is going on in the present moment. I ask every patient regardless of what they are coming in for about their bladder, bowel, and sexual function, physical activity and goals. Often, more than one system is involved and I find that many people don’t know when something they deal with every day, that wasn’t why they sought out pelvic floor physical therapy, is actually something pelvic floor physical therapy is uniquely suited to address. After this check in I might watch you move, check in with exercises to feel your tissue mobility. At some point, we will probably do an internal pelvic floor exam if it’s needed to check the pelvic floor muscle function. Finally, we will wrap up with a summary of what we did in the session and make a plan for what you are going to work on between sessions and what we are going to work on next time. 

What inspires your work?

I recently read an article about the German word Freudenfreude and that concept really spoke to me. Freudenfreude is the enjoyment of others' success. Hearing about my patients returning to or doing something they’ve never been able to do before gives me so much joy and fulfillment. I absolutely love hearing about how my patients were able to have sex successfully for the first time or pain-free for the first time in a while.   

What is your self-care ritual?

Lately, I’ve been working on learning how to recognize when my cup is starting to get too full and recommitting to my selfcare practices before my cup is overflowing and it's too late. Hint: it’s been harder than I thought it would be! Lately my go-tos have been riding my bike, weeding my garden, or staying a little longer in bed in the morning with my coffee and listening to podcasts.

What are you watching/listening to/reading right now?

Although I love reading, it often takes me a while to get through books! Right now, I’m working on finishing up Dune by Frank Herbert which I started about a year ago! I like to switch off between fiction and nonfiction and the last nonfiction book I read was The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk which was incredibly informative to my work as a pelvic floor physical therapist. The next book on my list will probably be When the Body says No  by Gabor Maté or Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski. I am an avid podcast listener and have too many to list here but my all-time favorite podcast is Maintenance Phase. Maintenance Phase takes a deep dive into the diet and wellness fads and the science or lack thereof behind them.