MY ROLE AS A
LICENSED MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR
I listen to understand, reflect what I see, and offer guidance with care. I encourage curiosity, authenticity, vulnerability and resilience.
My work centers around confronting the source of challenges to provide real transformative change instead of temporary relief.
THERAPEUTIC FRAMEWORK
I integrate EFIT and CBT to guide clients toward emotional healing and lasting personal growth.
Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) draws from attachment theory and helps clients:
Understand how past emotional scars influence present relationships, thoughts, and behavior.
Develop healthier emotional responses and build greater resilience.
Heal from past experiences and strengthen their sense of self.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach that focuses on shifting negative thought patterns. It equips clients to:
Recognize and challenge limiting beliefs.
Build practical coping strategies for managing anxiety and stress.
Strengthen emotional regulation for greater confidence and stability.
By combining these two powerful therapies, I help clients deepen their self-awareness and equip them with practical tools and insight to create lasting, meaningful change.
COUNSELING STRENGTHS & STYLE
I see a person’s beauty and am perceptive to thoughts and behavior weighing them down.
I am able to connect through empathy and humor and speak with honesty that is both kind and direct.
My work is especially impactful when a client trusts I am 100% for them and receives challenging feedback as potential opportunities for growth and not an attack on character.
EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE
In 2023, I left my job as Director of Counseling at a high school for “at-risk” youth to build my private practice. After facing Melanoma IIIB twice in 3 years, I realized I needed to LIVE and return to what I especially love—counseling adults and mentoring counselors.
While at the school, I grew in my roles as a counselor, recovery teacher, clinical supervisor and director. I worked with many exhausted parents who were desperate to find their teen help and then celebrated with them, tears in our eyes, at graduation. My students understood I cared and that I value autonomy and diversity. I know this because they allowed me to walk beside them as they journeyed to discover and be their best authentic self.
I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Washington (1998) and a Master of Arts in Counseling from Western Seminary (2002).
MY GOAL IS TO SEE YOU THRIVE
Ready to get started?
A BIT MORE ABOUT ME…
EASY TO BE AROUND
I enjoy people. I value authenticity and kindness and am comfortable being myself. My personality is playful, my demeanor is grounded and calm. There’s no need to hide or prove yourself—I naturally see and accept people for who they are.
JOYFUL
I believe there is a difference between happiness and joy and that it’s possible to have authentic joy, (peace deep within) even when sad or suffering.
RESILIENT
It’s through hardship that I have grown the most. Losing my mom and first marriage was more than I thought I could handle. The pain physically hurt. In the midst of overwhelming anguish and fear, I discovered I am far stronger and resilient than I realized.
FORGIVING
Forgiveness requires tremendous strength—especially when it’s undeserved. Forgiving others (and oneself) releases us from the torment of resentment. Forgiveness is less about what someone did to us and more about empowering ourselves to move forward with freedom and joy.
FAMILIAR WITH ANXIETY
I know what it’s like to have anxiety as an enemy.
I BELIEVE
Perspective matters. We can be right and wrong at the same time. Hurt people hurt people. We can all use forgiveness. People can change.