I often have clients ask why I chose this work. My hope for this page is to answer just that— to share about why this work is meaningful to me, and to provide my qualifications, in order for you to decide if you’d like to work together.

I’ve been working in the field of sexual assault since 2006. A close friend’s trauma encouraged me to know more and do more. First as a community educator teaching consent to kids in school, to a rape crisis companion in hospitals, to a victim advocate supporting folks navigating the justice system, and for the last twelve years, as a trauma therapist. I’ve worked in community mental health, hospitals, sexual assault resource centers and group private practice before starting my own practice. Today, I continue to specialize in trauma — and the stressors that are often times parallel to, adjacent to or offshoots of trauma. I also support folks on the other side of that work.

Over two decades, teachers, mentors, clients and voices of social justice have helped me better understand how the dynamics of sexual abuse mirror other abuses— like racism, sexism, fat phobia, transphobia, ableism, christofascism and colonization. Providing sound clinical social work means a lifelong commitment to growing critical thinking of abusive power structures and how they erode mental health, life, community and belonging. I support clients in their work of externalizing abuses and the byproducts of them — shame, hopelessness, and fear to name a few. That process frees up a lot of energy and space to grow in the life and person they want to be, and watching that process unfold is the best job there is.

While I specialize in treating trauma and anxiety disorders, I also work with clients to:

• increase sense of autonomy, self-efficacy, esteem and trust in self

• cultivate and grow in spirituality/ Grow how One personally makes meaning from life

• embrace Neurodiversity and process the harms of social expectation

• Grow Joy - with nature, music, art, curiosity, dance, and younger self as potential guides

• practicE mindfulness, radical acceptance & loving-kindness

• deepen relationships - Marriage & PArtnership, Parenting, friendship, pets, animals and nature

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, learning Barbie and Ken’s dance choreography with my 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son, searching for marine mammals in the water and raptors in the trees, listening to podcasts (Maintenance Phase & Very Bad Therapy archive are two current favorites), trying out new recipes from America’s Test Kitchen and seeing my own therapist every other week 😎.

LICENSE

Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW), Washington State

Mental Health Specialist and Child Mental Health Specialist, Washington State Division of Mental Health and Recovery

Certified Autism Specialist (CAS)

EDUCATION

Master of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2011

Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007