Philosophy and Therapeutic Approach

Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone’s story is different, and the details of your story matter. The details of your story provide context, meaning, and direction in your therapeutic journey. Hearing your history and what has shaped your perspective allows me to come alongside you in a safe and exploratory manner.

As we move through your story together, we will look for moments of clarity, insight, and opportunities to find greater understanding about you and how you arrived where you are now. You will find healing as I encourage you in strength, growth, and a fresh perspective.

For better or for worse, life events, transitions, and traumas can be defining. Through serving in ministry, military, the medical field, education, or any number of occupations, chances are you have experienced secondhand trauma in addition to your own defining moments. Bearing the continuous weight of all that life dishes out to you and those around you requires not just time, but processing and coping techniques to move forward healthily and without burnout.

What to Expect in Therapy

There are many reasons we decide to begin therapy. Perhaps the wear and tear of life has left you feeling low or anxious. Maybe it’s the prompting of a loved one or a recent experience of loss. Sometimes joyous occasions such as emptying the nest or growing a family bring conflicting emotions around an altering identity.

Whatever the reason, I greatly respect the many who courageously, intentionally meet life head-on in counseling. “The end of a matter is better than the beginning, and a patient spirit is better than a proud one” (Ecc 7:8).

Nothing is off-limits in our sessions together. Those raw, gnarly experiences and feelings can be turned loose, examined, and shed in the therapy room if you are ready to do so. We will also make time to reflect on and celebrate your personal growth and victories. “Let perseverance have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4).

Initially, feelings of “where do I even start” and “how much should I share” are normal. I will respect your pace and boundaries while encouraging the dialogue required to move toward your goals for therapy. As I come to understand your values, faith perspective, cultural background, and personal story, and you gain trust with me, we will be able to hone in on the best tools and modalities for you to achieve your therapeutic goals.

Having personally experienced many seasons in my own faith, I will respect whichever season you find yourself in. Highs and lows are perfectly normal, often with identifiable reasons. If you are in a season where you feel including prayer, scripture, and spiritual disciplines will enhance your journey, I am happy to provide these in session. If you do not have a faith system or wish to exclude a faith perspective in our sessions, I understand and respect that desire as well.

Personal Qualifications and Experience

Although I majored in marketing for my undergraduate study, I have been intrigued by birth-order psychology and family dynamics for as long as I can remember.

Approximately six years and three moves after graduation, as a military spouse, I was positioned to impact the lives of other military spouses and their families during the height of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Observing how trauma, stress, loss, and caretaker burnout impact relationships and mental health forever changed how I see the experiences of others.

The more I invested in my local community through lay counseling and mentoring, the more opportunities began to find me in which I could build healing relationships with people. Not long after this developed, I realized that the underlying discipline in marketing and serving others was the same: psychology.

Simultaneously, throughout the last fourteen years of studying people formally and informally, I have been raising my own four children who range in age from elementary school to college. Combining life experience and education with the investments my mentors and counselors have poured into me has fine-tuned my sensitivity, compassion, and intuition for other people’s experiences.

Personal Interests

When I am not on the sidelines of the volleyball court or lacrosse and track fields, my hobby is hiking. Being out in nature fills my soul like no other activity. The exertion, sweat, fresh air, and quiet renew everything inside of me. Fall is my favorite season, with ski season not too far behind.

While I do enjoy reading, audiobooks have quickly become the way I consume books while doing all of the necessary things in life. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett is my most recent favorite. My two older kids and I listened to it while driving to tour a college. Tom Hanks does a beautiful job as the reader.

My husband Jon and I have been married for two decades. In that time, we have had 11 different addresses (I have much to draw from when it comes to transitions) and have spent approximately five years apart from each other due to deployments, training, and unaccompanied tours. We met in Roswell, GA near where we were raised. Together we have weathered the highs and lows of fertility issues, high-risk pregnancies, miscarriages, and the deliveries of four healthy children.