• My masters degree and clinical course work were earned through the Idaho State University. My professional qualifications and experience include:

  • Licensed Professional Counselor
  • Board certified through the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. (see www.nbcc.org)
  • You can learn more about me by going to www.psychologytoday.com.

The oldest of seven children, I learned early that the best way to be heard was to speak up. My mother swears I was speaking in full sentences by the time I was seven months old, with my first sentence being "I want a cookie," the morning after she bribed to sleep with the promise of the coveted sweet. My love of the printed word came soon after--I can still vividly remember the woven, cloth-bound texture of my first book (Tasha Tudor’s Mother Goose) on my bare legs as I held it open on my diapered lap.  And, even then, I did my best to join the conversation, carefully adding my deliberate, inky scribbles to the faces of the beautifully illustrated characters.

By the time I was in Kindergarten, my growing power to turn single letters into words left me feeling invincible, and I eagerly dove into unlocking the mystery of reading. I reveled in the independence I felt as I sat alone to read and re-read Dr. Seuss's The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, my first Scholastic Book Order purchase. It wasn't long before I was a complete junkie for stories, mourning the length of Christmas vacation because the number of allowable school library check-outs I took home always ran out well before vacation did. I tried to fill the time by writing my first play--the compelling, dramatic story of a mother and child watching a baby bird try to fly for the first time. Unfortunately, the play, if not the bird, fell flat on its face. 

From letters to words to sentences to paragraphs to pages to books to volumes... never really able to fully capture the fullness of the idea, or internal experience, but sometimes they can come very, very close  The right words feel like the only key made for an intricate, ancient lock, shining with a thin coat of oil and sliding into an intricate, rusty clasp, soothing stiffened tumblers that have long since seized until--finally--the cogs and wheels turn in tandem, opening the open a door and let light flood out. And when they do, something inside of me thrills with relief, excitement, and joy as they come together in just the right combination to un-cage the idea within that has been bursting to get out and be recognized.

Fast forward to today, where as a Marriage and Family Therapist, I sit daily listening to the most intimate and compelling stories on earth, witness to the raw pain, joy, and transformation that pours out of my most courageous clients as they spill their innermost feelings and share their most sacred or shameful secrets.  I hear and support them through the emotion-laden words and poignant silences that express their experience and begins the healing of their aching souls.  I rejoice with them as they discover the ability to re-write the distorted mental scripts that have imprisoned them.  I listen in awe as they create new, triumphant and power narratives that highlight previously unrecognized, sparkling moments of innocence, strength, or resilience. 

Furthermore, the building of relationship bonds relies on hundred percent on an intricate alchemy of emotion and language, which—in the proper combination—manifests the intimacy of shared meaning-making.  The right words, at the right time, can make the difference between despair or deliverance, destruction or delight.  The iridescent layers of meaning that shine through one perfectly chosen word is mesmerizing. Nothing else in the world is quite as magical or beautiful to me…except when the words go one step beyond and free a pained soul and heal the deepest hurt.

And so I left literature for real life. It is what words are for. And THAT is why I am a therapist.