“...we can engage in reflection and transformation...”

A brief glimpse of my background to help you understand more about who you will be working with. Growing up in Washington I was active in sports and found great joy in the arts, gradually finding my balance between my physical and emotional/mental facets. Always seeking, I was enthused in experiencing anything new, such as motorcycling, mixed martial arts, bartending, travel, and very briefly, the Marine Corps. Drawing on this diverse variety of experiences, I carry the same curiosity, energy, and enthusiasm with which I approach my life, into my work with my clients.

I am currently a WA State Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate. I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Puget Sound and my Master of Education in Community Counseling at Seattle University. I have worked with children and in childcare throughout my career, from babysitter to preschool teacher, working in Infant Mental Health and gaining training in Child-Parent Psychotherapy, and as a behavior technician in Seattle, working with youth with Autism, ADHD, behavioral and developmental challenges. I began working as a Mental Health Therapist with adolescent girls in crisis, primarily with girls of color who had minimal academic and natural supports and who were experiencing significant mental health and systemic barriers. In 2019 I moved to Bellingham and worked with families as a Parent Coach, developing parenting skills, homeschooling skills, and supporting families involved with CPS as a Family Preservation Services Therapist.

I am so very grateful for the vulnerability and trust of all those I have worked with, allowing me to help support them through their challenges, and for the learning and the growth, I have experienced as a result. My move to King Health Associates has seen me refocusing on what feels like my true purpose and source of fulfillment: the improvement of the mental health of our communities. The therapeutic relationship can be as important as any relationship that we have in our lives, and I honor my role in that relationship. My approach to counseling is fluid and functional. There is an intersection, in mental health, between what we do and how we are. Both are essential to our health and ability to achieve our goals. Through a healthy, aligned therapeutic relationship, we can engage in reflection and transformation in how we engage with ourselves and the rest of the world. I feel grateful for the vulnerability required to seek help and support on this journey.

Individual Counseling

I work to support you with the empowerment of your own growth journey, your mental health experience, and your narrative about yourself and your place in the world. Your goals are my priority. I see you as the expert of your own experience. I trust in the truth of the stories that you share with me. Together, we will work to explore the perspectives, the causes of stress, and the paths leading to peace. We will identify how your stories are enacted, examine the mythologies that they are based on, and engage in a decision-making process about which stories continue to serve your goals. Dream analysis, mindfulness, narrative restructuring, goal-setting, archetype integration, emotion regulation, and healthy communication skills are some of the many possible paths of our individual work together. 

Children And Adolescents

My primary intention is the childhood development of a healthy and engaged relationship. This requires consistency, unconditional positive regard, and space for your child to simply be who they are in the moment. I work to navigate between what your child identifies as their main concerns and what you as the child's caregivers are intending for treatment. We will explore your child's narratives about the self, the world, and others around them, through their creativity and what brings them joy. This means that in each session, we will talk and play through the stories that influence their sense of self, creative power, and willingness to engage with the world. Work with children can sometimes, to the caregiver's eye, seem on the surface to be simple, playful, or slow because the approach is different from what one might expect of therapy as an adult. The child's "compliance" is not a focus of my work as a therapist. My work with children is to hold space for the parts of their story that they are not, for whatever reason, sharing elsewhere, and allow those hidden vulnerable parts to have a safe place to grow into the light of acceptance.
 
My approach with adolescents begins by honoring the incredible growth that they are experiencing, moving from childhood to adulthood. They are transforming in every possible aspect. I respect their intentions and support their own plan for sustainable health and growth. We will engage in the identification of their strengths, goals, areas of growth, supports network, emotion regulation tools, crisis/trauma triggers, and skills for taking responsibility for their own coming-of-age story. Narrative tools can be incredibly effective for adolescents, as their brains are at the very start of learning to empathize, reflect, think abstractly, and plan long term. 

Couples And Families

With couples and in family therapy, as we are working with multiple needs, goals, and perspectives, my primary focus is gaining a shared narrative. We work together to do this through the identification of the communication strengths of each person, possible barriers, and shared hopes for the treatment. The truth of this work, and any therapeutic work, is that the majority of the growth occurs outside of session. Our session time will be spent engaged in reflective activities, holding space for honest expression of each individual's experience and the exploration of the tools being practiced and the effectiveness of these tools within the primary relationships. Sometimes, gaining perspective on the narratives that we participate in with others, can also provide us with a greater understanding of the stories we have with ourselves.

 

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