I love learning!

I enjoy taking classes or training for new things and could spend hours researching and reading “just for fun”. 

If there’s a class to take or a group to join, I’m in!

What to expect when working with me:

Feel free to make yourself a cup of coffee, hot tea, or hot chocolate, or grab a water bottle in the waiting room. I have candy and snacks in the counseling room.

Your counseling sessions are your time, so come in and get comfy. Many clients enjoy kicking off their shoes, nestling into the big pillows on the sofa, or even holding a pillow while we talk during sessions.

Let’s be honest, clients have the hard job — you have to come in and talk about your life with someone who starts out as a stranger.

You need to be comfortable!

Many clients (all ages!) like to utilize the baskets of “fidget items” to keep their hands busy or to focus on while they talk. Others enjoy grabbing one of the clipboards and variety of pens, markers, and pencils to doodle. There’s also a big, 6-ft. white board we utilize often during sessions. It’s a great tool to help process some of the events of your week or to teach new concepts. At times, I even attempt drawing — just remember, my brother has the art degree, NOT me! Trust me, my clients and I both laugh a lot about my artistic attempts.

I like to give handouts with material for you to keep and read as a reference, to help you remember some of the things you learn and talk about in your sessions.  I’ll give you a folder to keep it all together.

We also choose next steps (homework) together. But don’t worry — it’s simple things to do between sessions to help practice or implement what we did in session.

My clients come weekly or every other week.

You make progress faster if you meet weekly, rather than bi-weekly, but we know counseling must fit into your schedule and budget or you won’t finish and get the help you need.  And it’s about that — getting you the help and support you need.

The average length of time to work together is 12 sessions. My goal is to work myself out of a job from the minute you enter my office, by helping you to resolve the issues that brought you to counseling and/or teaching you to “be your own counselor” with a “toolbox” full of coping skills and new ways to think and address those concerns. You don’t want to be in counseling forever, so we want to dig in and help you heal and make progress as quickly as possible!

Counseling is about YOU, but here’s a little about me…

I love learning new languages and learning about other cultures. I speak a few languages and have lived in several countries.

I love anything girly or rustic, flowers (especially pink peonies and zinnias), gardening, being outside, and hot weather.  The hotter, the better!  100 degrees?  No problem!  I could stay out in it all day!

Fun fact:  I want a mini-donkey.  Wouldn’t that be the greatest therapy animal?  Oh, and that’s another personal trait……..I like to think outside of the box!

I’m sure some of it has to do with my own story, but I’ve always been interested in posttraumatic growth and resilience, or resilience and growth after adversity.  I’ve experienced child loss 3 times — and many other challenging life events.

I wrote my doctoral dissertation on an aspect of resilience and posttraumatic growth.  I find it interesting to see how our experiences, environment, temperament, “the way we’re wired”, our family, our emotional intelligence, and of course, our hope in Christ all influence our resilience.

I love to help people thrive and grow on the other side of adversity.  You can’t change the past, but you can change your present and the future.

You can’t control others, but you can control YOU.  Even if you can’t control the circumstances, you can control how you respond to your circumstances and who you will become through them.

No matter how bad your circumstances may be, they don’t define you.  Yes, they may affect you and shape you, but you’re not defined by them.

You can THRIVE, not just survive, on the other side of adversity. I love to help individuals take their experiences, learn from them, and grow.