I am a trauma informed Licensed Professional Counselor and a Nationally Certified Counselor. I received my Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health from Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. In addition, I am an adjunct staff member at The Allender Center in Seattle, WA (associated with Dan Allender and The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology) where I have completed advanced training in Narrative Focused Trauma Care. I also facilitate groups for The Allender Center’s Narrative Focused Trauma Care training and Story Workshops and serve as a member of the Training and Pastoral Care Team. I have extensive experience helping individuals deal with childhood trauma and abuse through facilitating groups for over 15 years in The Woodlands, Texas area. Likewise, I have worked with individuals and couples, trained as a sexual assault victim advocate, and completed Cognitive Processing Therapy training found effective for posttraumatic stress disorder.
I believe we are all created for relationship, with a deep desire to be known and loved. It is in these relationships where our deepest contentment, as well as pain, resides. The experiences we have had and the relationships we have known are intricately tied to who we have become. Yet, often our stories of pain have not had the opportunity for care, and we go on as if nothing happened. Except we may feel stuck or see that something is impacting our lives, marriages, and families.
I am a woman who believes that you cannot take anyone further than you have gone yourself. There came a time in my life when to remain stuck was more painful than the risk it took to seek the care I needed. As a therapist, I consider it a privilege to provide a kind safe space to listen and tend to the places of pain, confusion, or fear for the sake of healing and restoration. I believe a strong therapeutic alliance provides the context to co-create new experiences of being seen and heard with an invitation to examine the stuck places through honest and caring engagement. My theoretical orientation is primarily rooted in psychodynamic theory, which means we will look at early life experiences with the purpose of increasing awareness of how those past traumas are impacting current life quality with ourselves and others. I also borrow from other therapeutic modalities such as attachment theory, narrative, existential, and family systems. This counseling process generally involves exploring past and current thoughts, actions, feelings, and relationships, including the therapeutic relationship.
My other passions in life include my family. I have been married to a kind and generous man for many years, we have 3 beautiful adult daughters, and a valued son hand chosen by a daughter. Another part of my family is a very animated Pyrenees mix rescue. I also enjoy the outdoors, traveling to new places, being on or near the water, good food, and tending to my butterfly garden where I raise Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries and Swallowtails. On a rainy day you’ll find me curled up with a good book, writing, or sketching.
