Before I became a therapist, I was a person, daughter, wife, mom, student, and friend. My humanity allows me to connect with my clients no matter how similar or different we are. Here is a little about me...

I absolutely love being a mom. I’m passionate about child development, parenting, and emotion regulation. I’ve read a lot about those topics, but the best teacher has been my experience. I’ve learned that we never feel prepared to raise children and that the most important things to “get right” are presence and repair. This is true for all of our relationships, including the therapeutic one. We all just need each other, as imperfect and human as we are.

My relationship with God is extremely important to me. As I’ve found healing through a personal connection to God and learned about His communal nature, I’ve come to believe that connection is healing in and of itself—connection to God, others, ourselves, and nature. Emotionally Focused Therapy, a model I have training in, actually has the research to back this up—depression and even heart disease were improved and cured when spouses were more securely connected! This applies to individuals as well, connection with your internal experience, connection with a therapist, connection with God (if you choose to bring that to therapy), and then the way each of those have a ripple effect on all of your other relationships has a healing effect. My life’s mission is to live more connectedly and foster more connection in other people. The therapy I do reflects this, relying much less on coping skills and much more on experiencing the hard parts in life with safe people.

I’m fascinated by many scientific and psychological processes in this beautiful world—birth, health and nutrition, relationships, parenting, gardening, and preserving food. I also love to create things. I enjoy sewing and trying all kinds of DIY projects. I love cooking and trying new recipes, and I play a couple musical instruments and enjoy songwriting. I also love being in nature—catching bugs, lizards, and snakes with my daughter, hiking, camping, picnics, etc.

In group settings, I much prefer listening, but I’m also not exactly quiet. I could talk your ear off in a one-on-one conversation and I’ve been known to embarrass my husband in public, singing, laughing, and being silly with my daughter. I smile and laugh easily and enjoy the little things in life. I am a total homebody and will never be the life of the party. At a social event I can be found talking about real, deep things with one or two people. I thrive off of deep, connected relationships and often catch myself asking personal questions that aren’t exactly socially acceptable outside of the therapy room.

So I’m a real person... With interests and values that may be very different from yours, but a person nonetheless. Someone who has lived in this world and can sit with you, hear your struggles, and then walk with you toward deeper connection and freedom.