It’s time to prioritize your healing.
So many things end up coming first - balancing caring for children or loved ones, the demands of your work, struggling to keep the household running with some semblance of sanity…and in the end, it often feels like there isn’t enough time, energy, or money left to attend to your own needs and wounded parts. Maybe you’ve been thinking about starting therapy for a long time. What would it be like to finally allocate space in your heart/schedule/budget to be heard and supported, and to reflect, grow, and heal?
I love supporting helpers. Many of my clients are in the helping professions: healthcare professionals, teachers, counselors, folks in vocational ministry or nonprofit work, stay at home parents, working parents, caregivers. I work with people who spend their lives tuning in to the needs of others and might often feel worn down, burned out, numb, or invisible.
As a certified perinatal mental health provider (PMH-C), I have specialized training to support individuals and couples through the complexities of infertility, pregnancy, birth trauma, loss, transition to parenthood, and the impact of perinatal mental health challenges.
I also work with grieving people as they navigate the devastating and disorienting journey of grief, and with folks struggling with faith, doubt, disillusionment, and the impact of harm experienced inside toxic faith systems.
I will approach our work together with genuine curiosity about your story, respect for what you believe, and tools to help you move toward the life you want.
More about my approach to counseling…
My integrative approach allows me to bring a wide variety of counseling methods and techniques to our work together. Specifically, I am trained as a family systems therapist, which means that I understand people in the context of their relationships with others. My work is informed by Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) and Attachment Theory, both of which help us understand how our brains are wired and rewired across the lifespan through our interactions with those important to us.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) can also provide us with a framework to understand the parts of ourselves that might be confusing or difficult to reconcile - and helps us learn to honor our lived experiences and extend self-compassion as we ground more fully in the core essence of Self. In addition, I often draw upon techniques found in Narrative Therapy, which helps us explore the stories that shape our identities, and focuses on connecting with our personal values and hopes to imagine the possibilities for creating a new story for the future. I may also draw from Solution-Focused Therapy in which we look at what is working well in your life (or what has worked for you in the past) in order to help you envision and move toward a more fulfilling future.
My work with couples is also influenced by the work of Dr. Sue Johnson (Emotion Focused Couple Therapy) and Drs. John and Julie Gottman (The Gottman Institute).
My background
I hold a Masters degree in Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling from George Fox University. My coursework included studies in family systems, couple therapy, advanced family therapy, traumatology, interpersonal neurobiology, emotion focused therapy, play therapy, addictions, and group therapy. I have additional training in perinatal mental health and a PMH-C certification.
In addition, I have a B.A. in Sociology from Willamette University and professional experience working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence in a shelter setting, with homeless and at-risk youth in a job training program, as a counselor to individuals, couples and families in a family homeless shelter, and providing leadership to a supportive group for homeless and vulnerable women living on the margins in Portland.
My community involvement includes having served as a volunteer community mediator of neighborhood disputes, and as a leader in my faith community. I live in Silverton, OR with my husband, children, and our rambunctious Wheaten Terrier, and enjoy cooking for friends and exploring all that our gorgeous part of the world has to offer.