About Me

Whether people are working toward their goals, or unknowingly working against them, I believe people are doing the best they can. Therapy serves as a resource for clients to do better, and as a way to learn how to get to that point. My practice is so named because I see myself as a guiding light for clients who are on the pathway of healing. My approach is characterized by compassion, authenticity and an open mind. As we develop a treatment plan, I will consider your background, lived experiences, and neurobiology. While my knowledge of mental well being is diverse and valuable, your expertise on your life and story is just as vital to the therapeutic process. I utilize a relational approach with my clients, that emphasizes trust and the therapeutic alliance. Even on my worst days, you can expect genuineness, transparency and humor during our sessions. My therapy room is a space where people can drop any masks they may be wearing to hide who they are, and therefore I welcome you to show up as the version of you that you are that day, swearing included! 

I integrate several different modalities into my work including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT/TF-CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) to name a few. I also incorporate various theories on attachment and neurobiology. Every person has the capacity for change, and even our amazing and wild brains have the ability to change through neuroplasticity. I work with clients in sessions to teach new skills and implement interventions that help clients positively impact the way their brains are wired, how they interact with the world, and even how they receive and process new information.

I was exposed to the wild, wonderful world of therapy by a family friend in 6th grade. I knew since then that I would eventually find my place in the mental health field. As a fellow human, I have done my fair share of work and have had several influential school counselors, individual therapists, and professors who have stoked my passion for helping others.

Perhaps, one of my biggest mental health struggles to date was my late diagnosis of ADHD in adulthood. This diagnosis put so many things in my life into perspective dating all the way back to when I was a child. I have always been a Jack-of-All Trades and had wide ranging interests, and that definitely did not stop upon entering my Master’s program. My MA was originally supposed to be 60 graduate level credit hours, and as I write this I have completed 88 credit hours because I couldn’t just stop at what my program thought I should know. One of the reasons I was able to get to this point is that I finally understood my own mind a bit more and had access to a brand-new set of tools. I would say that it was as though I was trying to mow a lawn with a chainsaw, and then actually told there was a shed with, you know, a lawnmower in it.

One of the ways that ADHD has positively impacted me is that I view the majority of things in my life from a variety of angles and enjoy turning problems over in my head. This gives me a broader view of clients’ lives which helps me conceptualize their stories.

In my natural habitat, I can usually be found wearing sweats or a comfy sweater, reading or playing video games, while spending time with my partner and what feels like our menagerie of pets. All may seem calm and collected on the surface, but underneath, chaos is brewing as my ADHD takes hold and I feel compelled to put together a 771-piece Lego succulent set AND attempt to learn to weave some paracord into variously sized dice bags for D&D after impulsively purchasing 225ft of said paracord. Within the same day.

Though it’s not always convenient for me, or those around me, I am proud of many of the paths that my ADHD has led me down, and how it shows up in my life. This is reflected in my therapy space which includes a carefully concocted blend of education, life experience, sarcasm/humor, and a tenacious need to see the whole picture. You can expect me to laugh with you, throw shade at others with you when it’s deserved, and sit with you in the hard shit that can’t just be made better with kind words.

Ultimately, we are humans who are coming together and having an emotional and authentic experience, that impacts both of us. I would see my work as fulfilling whether I were to positively impact one life or a thousand lives, because, even in my life, compassion has a ripple effect. 

I am a nerd at heart and have a love for studying various Myths and Legends from around the world. In Greek Mythology, one of my favorite figures is Hecate who is the Goddess of boundaries, magic, and the crossroads. She is commonly associated with a myriad of things, but one of the ways she is represented is holding a lit torch in each hand to light the way at the crossroads. I have always loved this symbolism, and it also is a great representation of how I see the therapy process. I believe that all clients have the answers already inside them, but sometimes we as people need a little extra light to know which road we need to take or which roads are even available to us.