2025 RPA Board of Directors
Jennifer Lotz, PsyD
President
she/her Dr. Lotz has been a member of RPA since 2013, and is a licensed psychologist in Santa Rosa, CA offering in-person and telehealth services. She previously worked in multiple college counseling centers in California and Ohio prior to opening her private practice in 2019. Dr. Lotz works from an interpersonal/relational perspective with a multicultural lens, offering both individual and group therapy. Dr. Lotz specializes in working with young adults, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their families, and individuals seeking to process and heal from childhood abuse and sexual trauma.
Dr. Lotz earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and went on to earn both master’s and doctorate degrees from the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She assisted in the development of Focused Brief Group Therapy (FBGT) and authored the FBGT Treatment Manual used globally to enhance the practice of brief therapy groups. She has presented the approach at the American Group Psychotherapy Association’s annual meeting six times. She holds a certification in TeleMental Health from the Zur Institute. She has volunteered with Hospice, AIDS Resource Center (ARC), Safespace programs, and the Sonoma County Pride Parade. This is her third year serving on the RPA Board.
Loi Medvin, PsyD Vice President
she/her Dr. Loi is in private practice seeing individuals and couples throughout California for therapy and intensives, via teletherapy and in person with a collaborative, holistic approach. She incorporates somatic, Ketamine-Assisted-
Dr. Loi has a background in non-profits, radio, event production and community organizing. Her clinical work began in 2005, when she began graduate school as a single mother (after an almost 10 year break from school). Her CRP was entitled, “The Role of Empathy in the Domestic Violence Treatment of Male Batterers” through a feminist theory lens and she graduated in 2011, becoming a member of RPA that same year. She was licensed in 2014 after 3 years of postdoc in a private practice neuropsychology clinic.
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Sandy Peace PsyD, CST Treasurer
she/her/Dr. Dr. Peace is a California licensed psychologist and AASECT certified sex therapist in private practice. She works from her home office in Petaluma providing individual, couples / partners, and group therapy via telehealth. Dr. Peace utilizes a wide range of therapeutic techniques: CBT, DBT, EMDR, solution-focused, somatic, mindfulness, psychodynamic, relational, and multicultural. She is a generalist clinician with expertise in identity development, LGBT+, polyamory / ENM (Ethical Nonmonogamy), trauma, relationships, and sexuality.
Dr. Peace received her doctorate in clinical psychology from John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill in 2012. She was supervised by Dr. Michael Pinkston at her 3rd year practicum at Sonoma State University Counseling Center (along with Dr. Loi Medvin). After completing her internship and post-doc at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Counseling Center (where she worked with Dr. Jen Lotz), she moved to Los Angeles and started a private practice in DTLA in 2015. There Dr. Peace was active with the Los Angeles County Psychological Association, including providing training for the Couple’s Therapy Special Interest Group on working with bisexual and polyamorous clients, and she was a community organizer and educator in the polyamorous and bisexual communities. She moved back to Sonoma County in 2020 during the pandemic to be near her personal support network.
Dr. Peace’s first career was in the AEC field doing payroll, accounting, and financial engineering, marketing and business development. (She was on the engineering team that helped create development impact fees for new neighborhoods in the City of Rohnert Park.) She is also a foodie who loves planning and hosting events.
Carla Payne, PsyD Secretary & Membership Chair
Dr. Carla Payne started her career in in educational psychology, upon earning a master’s in counseling psychology from the University of San Francisco in 1986. Her
focus was on creating and implementing educational materials for non-native English speakers in high tech and in private schools in Japan, San Francisco, and San Diego. She wrote the material for one of the first-ever English Language-learning software programs. She went on to become a vocational rehabilitation counselor with San Diego and Louisiana based worker’s compensation and private rehabilitation firms, and then, as a single mom of three children under the age of 9, embarked on her doctorate at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego. She earned her degree and was licensed at age 50. She completed her postdoctoral work at the San Diego Center for the Blind and Vision Impaired and has devoted much time to treatment of this population. She has conducted approximately one thousand tests in the areas of intelligence and personality. She has provided expert witness testimony in reunification cases in San Diego courts. Her practice is now wide ranging, and she sees teens, young adults, veterans, active-duty military personnel, writers, artists, other psychologists, and older adults. Dr. Payne wrote her dissertation on typologies of narcissism from both psychodynamic and postmodern points of view, comparing 40 types of narcissistic presentation. She is an active member of Rotary International and serves as the Environmental Chair of her club. She relocated to Sonoma County in 2020 to enjoy the more rural setting and draws inspiration from visiting the beautiful beaches and forests of this region. This is her first year on the RPA Board.
T
ori Branch, PsyD Past President
I became a member of RPA in early 2021 after relocating my practice to West Sonoma County from San Francisco that same year. Even in that short time, I have benefitted greatly from joining the association and am excited to show my gratitude by serving on the RPA board and supporting our membership. I have held the role of secretary for the Northern California Society of Psychoanalytic Psychology’s board and have honed my organization and communication skills in that role as well as in academic and non-profit settings.
Since 2011 I have split my work life between my private practice and work in community mental health non-profits (Clinic Manager of Psychological Services Center of CIIS 2011-2016; Director of Clinical Services for Access Institute 2016-2021). In each of these roles I served on the organizations’ leadership/administrative teams while also providing group and individual supervision to 20+ psychology trainees over 10 years. In August of 2021, I left my role at Access Institute to focus solely on my practice. I have an office in Graton, CA where I see adult individuals wishing to work in areas of life transition, complex grief, personality conflict, and gender identity and transition. I am currently enrolled in the MAPS MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy Training program and hope to expand my practice in that area once the drug is approved for use by the FDA.
I completed a BA in Psychology from North Carolina State University in 1999, a Master’s in Counseling & Guidance from New York University in 2003, and a Doctor of Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies in 2011. My dissertation focused on the creation of a transgender model of identity formation. My California licensed was first issued in 2013.
Lindsay Kenny Administrator
she/her Lindsay has a background in Advertising, Media and Marketing. After taking a break from her career to stay at home with her children Mason and Ryder, she decided to rejoin the workforce part time. Her role as RPA administrator is the perfect fit – allowing her to work part time and still be home for her kids. She joined RPA in 2018 and her role includes marketing, membership management, event planning and website management among other tasks. We are grateful for Lindsay’s talents and ongoing support!