I was born and raised in the south, but grew up all over. My parents were hippies and instead of experiencing a conventional childhood, I experienced the realities of free spirits and generational trauma. As an adult, I continued to move and live in many places in the United States and Over Seas. My travels have taught me about life, humanity, and about myself. I am an independently licensed trauma-informed clinician in the states of Colorado and New Mexico. I attended a Consciousness-Center Graduate School, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I obtained my Master of Arts in Counseling. Their curriculum addresses the depth and breadth of the human experience. It is based on five theoretical viewpoints in psychology: psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, systems and transpersonal. Each psychological theory is applied to the students’ personal transformation and professional development. I also completed one semester, in the M.A./Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with Emphasis in Jungian and Archetypal Studies, at Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. 

I have two specialty certifications. The Grief, Loss & Trauma Certification, was completed at Southwestern College. I am both fortunate and honored to have studied under Dr. Janet Schreiber, an internationally recognized expert in her field. The training consisted of 200 contact hours and combined experiential introspective and expressive approaches to understanding issues of death and dying, grief counseling, trauma resolution, and hospice work.

The Certification in Applied Forensic Psychology was completed at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, while working for the Office of Counterintelligence, at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This was an online program that covered a variety of topics, including understanding the criminal personality, crime prevention through risk assessment, mental health law, trial consultation, substance abuse treatment, trauma and crisis intervention, and community liaison work with legal, law enforcement, and social service agencies.

I am a certified Trauma-Sensitive Meditation Instructor through Warriors at Ease and I have taught meditation and mindfulness to my clients across the globe, while supporting the military population.

My background is diverse, having worked for the Department of Energy, State Department, Federal Government, and as a Clinician in various settings. I have worked with all branches of Department of Defense as an embedded counselor in the United States, Europe, and Asia. My clinical experience includes working with adults, adolescents, couples, families and facilitating groups. I have led outpatient and intensive outpatient groups, supported clients with addiction, in both the civilian sector and for the United States Marine Corps. I established and facilitated suicide bereavement support groups for both adults and teens. After my community experienced an increase of suicides, I developed week long workshops and events for National Suicide Prevention Week in the County of Los Alamos, New Mexico. My services have included psychotherapy, personal counseling, consulting, psycho-education, and grief counseling. I have supported a wide range of issues: Depression, Stress & Anxiety, Grief & Loss, Transitional Challenges, Relationship Issues, Parenting, Anger Management, Communication, Conflict Resolution, Deployment (Pre/Post Deployment and Reintegration), Post Traumatic Stress, Substance Use, Addiction, and much more.

In 2019, I took a sabbatical from my career to battle blood cancer. I lived in isolation for 4 1/2 a half months at the hospital and then continued to social distance while in recovery. I underwent surgeries, skin grafts, and was faced with my mortality. I received a bone marrow transplant in 2020 and my treatment was successful, but the engrafting and recovery took several years. I spent most of my time in deep thought, contemplation about life, and discovering what matters most to me. I thought my time in isolation and recovery brought wisdom, but it was not until my 3 year post transplant anniversary, that I realized I had been grieving the woman who was hospitalized. I have been taken to bare bones; to my core mentally, spiritually, physically, and financially. The renewal of life brought death of my old self, relationships, and world views. It changed me and my approach in working with others. I used meditation, yoga, and my clinical knowledge around trauma to my benefit, but I learned the most, from living through the experience and from others along my journey.