This page is about me as a Licensed Psychotherapist and a human!
My Specialties
- Mood Management– like anxiety, depression, lack of focus, frustration intolerance, avoidance, co-dependency and more.
- Relationships– for instance with yourself, your partner or significant other, a co-parent, a family member, a child.
- Skill Development- like boundary setting and holding, self-care, self-compassion, conflict management, parenting skills and so on.
My Qualifications
- Bachelors in Health Promotion, Auburn University
- Masters in Clinical Psychology, Pepperdine University
- 2 year Gestalt Psychotherapy Training Program in Methodology and Technique, Southern Connecticut State University
- Level 3 Practitioner, Internal Family Systems (via IFS Institute)
- Level 2 Practitioner, Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFS Couples Therapy)
- Over 25 years of professional experience in health and wellness, 15 years of experience in psychology.
Me, as a therapist.
Do you feel curious about what it would be like to work together? Me too! Honestly, the best way to meet and experience first-hand.
Until then, here are some hints of what to expect…
I’m all in.
I’ll have a large (possibly with food in my teeth) smile on my face each time we meet. I can’t help feeling glad to see you. When you show up, I’m here for it. You won’t be too much. I will want to hear about it. You won’t scare me or turn me away. I will be with you while you’re in it.
I believe in you.
This shows up through patience. I’ll likely say, “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast (when learn who originated this, they’ll get credit).” I know I can trust you, your pace and your boundaries. I rely on collaboration, trust, and bravery in our relationship. That makes patience essential.
I’m here for you.
You could call it persistence. I’ll keep track of your goals, your wounds, your wants, and so much more. With compassion and commitment, I’ll keep us on track with persistence, connecting and reconnecting as often as necessary. One important note about my persistence- it is not pushy. When the uncomfortable, the resistance, the fear shows up, we will respect it and have curiosity for it (I call it backing down without backing off).
I will share my perspective.
It’s my job to see and hold the bigger picture- that you’re more than a moment, a feeling, a choice. I’ll use it when big feelings feel huge, when distressing experiences or behaviors feel out of control, when self-judgment and stereotypes sound like truth, when hopelessness shows up. My perspective might look like psychoeducation, appreciation, reminding you of your progress, holding and sharing themes from past sessions, and reflecting an understanding.
I’ll use humor.
I believe in playfulness and laughter. Sometimes it will be with a funny story or a silly image that comes into my head. It could be sassiness or a joke. Honestly, I can’t do this without them. Playfulness and laughter help connect and buoy us. It will be an important part of our relationship- so get ready for it!
Why do I do this (the whole therapist thing)?
First, I do it because we are meant to be in relationship. We are not meant to struggle and strive alone. If you want to do this therapy thing, you need someone who can show up with you and go all in by your side.
Second, well, bear with me. You might know this already, but manure (yes, s&%t), makes the best fertilizer for growth, and it is what grows from that fertilized soil that helps give us breath and life. Speaking of life, it has a lot of hard and pain in it. Life has a lot of discomfort in it. You might say it hands us a lot of shit.
With these big, beautiful brains and bodies, we have the ability to take the shit, process it into the fertilizer that helps create amazing relationship, connection and community. I do this work to be a catalyst for your courage to take pain and discomfort and use it for an opportunity to grow and love.
And third, I believe in renovating our relationship with discomfort. For many of us, when discomfort arises, we move instantly to choices and behaviors designed to get us back to comfort, to control. This isn’t bad, it’s natural. At times, it’s downright necessary. But what if we could take some of that uncomfortable (in a brave space) and slow down, use curiosity, and find out what is underneath the discomfort? I think we might find wisdom, signaling, a call for deeper understanding and relationship with ourselves and others. I do this to facilitate opportunities because you are worth it.
Me, as a human.
How’d I get here?
Honestly, I LOVED psych courses in undergrad! Bbbuuuttt, Psychology required more education than I could stomach (as a 20 yr old I just wanted out), and I didn’t think I’d be taken seriously in all my youthful glory (insert eye-roll and chuckle here). So instead I studied health promotion, which zeroed in on the other elements of health. It worked out! For a little while anyway.
Within the community of health promotion, I worked at major corporations and met so many great humans. I worked with others to build and manage teams, programs and centers that helped integrate health and wellness into people’s busy workdays. It was hard work, really fulfilling, and a blast (I still get the gooeys and gratefuls when I think about those peeps)! As I moved up in this career, I consistently noticed two things.
The first was my career trajectory. It was moving me from building connections with people and teams to sticking me with more and more of the business end of the profession. This ate at my motivation and mood (when you get up at 3:30am for work, you need motivation, mood, and COFFEE). The second was wwwaaayyy more profound for me. Regardless of the space, role, person or group I engaged with, health and well-being all came back to relationships. The one we have with ourselves, our bodies, with others, our community; our relationship with discomfort, with the Earth. So that, along with having lived a lot more life, led me back to psychology.
I have been in this therapy world determinedly, passionately, and gratefully ever since. Through cross-country moves, two master’s programs, 3,000 training hours, deaths, births, pandemics, mudslides, fires, lots of trainings and experience and so much more (I gotta hold a little in), that recognition of the intertwining power or relationships and interdependency has me here. Life is hard and uncomfortable, like a lot. We all need support.
fun stuff
Here’s more honest for you (as if you asked for it). I really believe no one is all one thing. I believe we are meant-to-be parts held together by a Self and a skin suit (yes, there are scientific terms for all of this). So here are some contradictory parts of me …
- I can be very Virgo and very inviting of mess and creativity.
- I enjoy being lazy and being busy.
- I like to be alone and I like a good dinner party.
- I like to eat healthy food and I like to eat fried foods and sugar.
- I choose to respond with respect and I often use profanity.
- I love being a mom and I miss being a billionaire of time.
- I like to do it myself and I use Instacart weekly.
- I like being cozy in bed and I like being out in nature.
- There is a lot of serious, practical, silly and ridiculous in me!
It’s time to get unstuck! You’re ready!
(And if there’s a healthy dose of fear, that makes sense. It’s called courage.)
