About MacKenzie

Who MacKenzie Works With

MacKenzie works with a variety of adults and families from a variety of backgrounds. She won't judge you for consensual expressions of your identity and sexuality. People who have historically been left out of therapeutic healing due to systemic forces are especially welcomed. She works with a variety of folks, including but not limited to:

• LGBTQIA2-S people

  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, and 2-spirt people are all welcome at Metaphor Therapy

• People in ethically nonmonogamous relationships, including polyamorous and open relationships

• BDSM/kink practitioners and community members

• Sex workers

• Fat people and folks of size

• People living with chronic depression and suicidality

• Mental health professionals, including therapists, social workers, coaches, and peer counselors

• Families including adults, adolescents, and children, especially those with any of the above backgrounds

Intersectionality and Kyriarchy

In all aspects of her life, including your work together, MacKenzie commits to communicating without reinforcing systems of oppression. She makes this commitment knowing that her own points of privilege guarantee she will at times fall short of this commitment.

MacKenzie offers her clients acceptance and support regardless of what they say or do. She believes being accepted as you are creates a safe enough space from which to move toward growth and be accountable to yourself and your communities. She holds awareness of oppression, privilege, systemic power structures, and the intersectional way these impact our lives. She is firmly committed to work that weakens these systems of domination.

Clinical Focus

Each individual comes to therapy with their own goals in mind and MacKenzie is here to work on whatever you feel would most benefit you. You'll work collaboratively with MacKenzie to determine a path of treatment that makes sense for where you're at. MacKenzie works with clients on many facets of their lives, including but not limited to:

• Values and interpersonal boundaries

  • Discovering values and determining how they inform individual boundaries

  • Creating relationship agreements that honor individual boundaries

• Consensual nonmonogamy, especially polyamory

  • Navigating relationship dynamics

  • Finding the right relationship structures

  • Nurturing metamour relationships

• Managing depression and suicidality

• Finding meaningful activities

• Using the skills you've gained in your relationships to manage depression or other mental health symptoms

Duration

MacKenzie meets with clients weekly for 50-minute sessions, with 75-minute sessions available as needed. The duration of therapy is variable and depends on you and what you'd like to work on. MacKenzie offers longer term depth work, brief therapy, and everything in between. She is available for (and enjoys!) tuneups months or years after the body of weekly therapeutic work has concluded.

Life

MacKenzie is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She sees clients in her Alameda office and online, and supervises an incredible clinical team. She is a member of core faculty at The Wright Institute, where she especially loves teaching courses on psychopharmacology, biological bases of behavior, and diagnosis.

MacKenzie offers trainings on a variety of topics for community-based organizations, as well as consultation and supervision.

MacKenzie has participated in mental health care for depression since childhood. She is a queer white cisgender woman with invisible disabilities.

Experience

MacKenzie began her mental health career with Crisis Support Services. In addition to spending six years answering their suicide and crisis hotlines, MacKenzie worked as a therapist for a variety of populations, served as a member of the community education team, and provided supervision to therapist interns. She still occasionally provides training to therapist interns at CSS.

MacKenzie has also served as a program manager and clinician for service teams supporting adults and older adults experiencing poverty, homelessness, and mental health challenges in Alameda County. She served as the treasurer of the board of directors for PEERS and a board member for San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI). She has provided clinical supervision in a variety of community mental health settings, as well as in private practice.

Education

MacKenzie has a BA in Political Theory from Scripps College and an MA in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.

Affiliations

MacKenzie is a member of CAMFT, Bay Area Open Minds, and the Association of Family Therapists of Northern California. She is a SFSI-endorsed sex educator. She is proudly listed in the Kink Aware Professionals Directory and the Poly-Friendly Professionals Directory. She is a part of the Sentio Counseling Center's deliberate practice fall 2023 cohort.

Newsletter

MacKenzie sends out an occasional newsletter to keep in touch with friends and colleagues from the mental health community. Feel free to subscribe!

Outside of Work

MacKenzie enjoys artistic pursuits in a variety of media, board and video games, and puzzles ranging from nonograms to word ladders. She plays flag football and collects tarot decks.