I hold a strong passion for the human experience. I feel honored any time someone shares with me their life struggles and trusts me to assist them on their path towards healing their emotional wounds. I believe each and every one of us has a story. The ability to be vulnerable and share that story is a beautiful thing and it is a privilege to be witness to the sincerity expressed in each individual story. I do not take my work lightly and I hold space for the vulnerability of each of my clients.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Sociology and a Master’s degree in Humanistic Gerontology with core concentrations in Aging and the Family and Geriatric Care Management. I am also a certified ARCH Healer.
The TLDR version of my specialties:
Pregnancy/Childbirth/Postpartum
Aging/Death/Grief (including but not limited to):
Perimenopause and Menopause
Health Anxiety
Anticipatory Grief
Ambiguous Grief
Death with Dignity
Pet Loss
Birth Trauma for parents and birth workers
Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers (and other narcissistic abuse)
Highly Sensitive People (https://hsperson.com/)
Sports Performance Mental Health
General Depression and Anxiety
Family and Marriage Difficulties
The longer version is that I don't believe any of us needs to be "fixed". You don't need fixing. You need a way through. Honestly, I'm not even a fan of the word "counseling." I think of myself as a Life Transition Mentor, because if I'm being honest, we could all use one at various points in life. My work is about creating a space where you feel safe enough to speak your mind, share the stories you may never have told anyone, and feel everything that needs to be felt, with someone trusted beside you to validate it, and maybe shine a little light on paths you couldn't see before.
That belief is exactly why I've added Brainspotting to the tools I offer.
Brainspotting is a body-based therapeutic approach that works with the way our brain and nervous system actually store difficult experiences which is often below the level of conscious thought or language. Using a specific eye position (a "brainspot") connected to what you're working through, this approach helps access and process stuck emotional and physical material that talk therapy alone doesn't always reach.
It fits naturally into how I already work. I believe in the mind/body connection and in holistic healing, and I support both traditional and non-traditional approaches while always following each client's lead, because I firmly believe each of us knows what works best for our own mind and body. I'm simply here to support that.
Where this fits into my broader work
My path here has been a winding one, and I think that's exactly why Brainspotting resonates with so many corners of it:
Birth and postpartum work: After two decades as a birth doula and childbirth educator, I've seen firsthand how birth trauma lodges in the body, not just the mind. I work with parents as well as the nurses, midwives, doctors, birth assistants, and doulas who carry their own weight from difficult births. This includes ongoing debriefing support for birth professionals. Brainspotting can be a powerful complement here, especially in a Deep Work Session .
Perimenopause and postmenopause: This is a season of life we still don't talk about enough. My office is a place for women moving through these transitions to explore the flood of physical and emotional change without judgment and Brainspotting can help process what's often hard to put into words.
Grief and end-of-life care: Given my background in gerontology and death work, Brainspotting offers another way to move through grief that doesn't rely on talking a feeling into submission.
Performance coaching: I've worked with athletes at a high level for years, and I have a real passion for competitive video gamers in particular (my own kids are competitive gamers (one is a sponsored professional). Competing at a high level takes a specific mental skill set, and Brainspotting can help clear the internal static that gets in the way of performance.
Ultimately, my goal is to work with each client as a team to achieve the healing they are seeking whether we’re utilizing talk therapy, brainspotting or other potential modalities. We make those decisions together.
My downtown Tacoma office is casual, warm and inviting. Coffee, tea and water are always available and there are an abundance of throw pillows which can be held, punched or thrown as the mood strikes. Kick off your shoes and get comfortable. If you’re meeting with me virtually from the comfort of your own home, the same thing applies. You can see me from bed, in your pajamas, with a warm cup of coffee or tea if you so choose. You get to decide exactly where, and how, you feel most comfortable as this journey is about YOU!