I believe that therapy is, in short, workshopping the relationship between one's physiological experience, one's intellectual or spiritual experience, and one's environment. There is no manual that we are given to work out how these experiences interact with each other, and it is important to experience a safe, competent space to explore where these relationships are causing friction.

I've been working in the mental health field for 17 years, and I've been working as a Clinical Social Worker providing therapy for 7 of those years and 4 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. My experience ranges from working with youth and adolescents, working with people with developmental disabilities in a supported living setting, working with people experiencing chronic severe mental health issues and homelessness, to 2 years spent working with people experience mild to moderate anxiety and depression.

Through that experience, I've developed a collaborative approach that revolves around you as the expert of your experience. My role in therapy is to help you understand what is happening in your body, add knowledge and tools to your experience, and help you explore how to put your experience to work with those tools to experience relief and success.

I Initially pursued a degree in education, but while I was getting my degree, I worked at a group home for adjudicated youth and became interested in helping support people address their unmet needs through mental health treatment. The longer I worked in different areas of the mental health field, the more interested I became in becoming a therapist until I pursued my degree nine years ago.

I have a pretty wide variety of interests outside of work. I believe having a well rounded set of skills really helps with managing burnout. I really enjoy working with my hands and creating; I bake 4-6 loaves of sourdough bread every week and I love to experiment with new recipes in the kitchen. I enjoy woodworking and have accumulated and restored tools and built my own workbench. I enjoy playing tennis and riding my bike as well as weightlifting. I've got two small children and enjoy spending as much time with them, and sharing my passions when interest and time allows!

I am really committed to doing some sort of exercise daily. Frequently with children that means child assisted bodyweight calisthenics (doing push ups with a four year old on my back), walking, or riding a bike pulling a bike trailer.

I don't have any pets currently, but I love dogs and hope to have one again when the kids are a little older. I think my favorite pet story was about my dog Sam - he was a Sharpei our family had when we were young. I remember he had a best frenemy, a woodchuck that lived under our shed and always managed to avoid the exterminators when we tried to get it out. Every now and again he'd get into a tussle and have a scratch or two, but one time he really got into it with the woodchuck and it got him really good. I suspect he got the woodchuck as well, because he was absolutely strutting when he came into the house, and just seemed so satisfied with himself all the way to the vet. I think I always remember that when I see people doing things that might seem dangerous or unwise on the surface, because that was the happiest I ever saw him; and I would bet dollars to donuts it felt truly meaningful to him. I wouldn't take that away from him for any price.