My Story

Hello!  I am a licensed professional counselor, a nationally certified counselor, a certified grief educator, and have been trained in yoga calm strategies, expressive arts strategies, trauma informed strategies, and the prepare-enrich program.  I have been working in the helping profession for over 12 years.

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I was drawn to becoming a therapist when I was working as a teacher in Alaska.  I found myself the teacher that students would confide in and reach out to for extra emotional support.  I knew right away that I needed to learn more so that I could support my students, and soon found myself completing my Master's Degree in hopes of learning everything that I could to help others.  

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I spent the early part of my career helping women and children who had been exposed to abuse, whether it be physical, emotional or sexual abuse.  At times I would be sitting in the hospital emergency room holding someone's hand as they went through the excruciatingly difficult sexual assault nurse examination. At other times I found myself hearing of unimaginable abuse occurring to a young child sitting in my office, as they found the courage to share what had happened to them for the first time.  I have seen pain beyond anything I ever imagined. 

I have taken all of this and used it to fuel my passion to help people heal and overcome everything that life has thrown at them.  In the midst of my training to become a therapist, my best friend died by suicide.  This changed my life, and spurred me to push even harder to learn everything that I could in the hopes that I might someday help someone else stay alive, help some other family never experience the loss of a loved one to suicide, and most importantly, help the amazing and incredible people who step into my office as my clients to realize that they are worth it.

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When I am not working as a therapist, I spend my time reading, hiking, camping, raising my two young children, exploring the world, playing with my rescue dogs, cold-water dipping in Lake Superior, practicing tai chi, and occasionally making music on my violin and French horn.