I draw on an eclectic and integrated mix of best practice approaches which include: mindfulness-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), substance use harm reduction, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) just to name a few. I specialize in treating depression, anxiety, unresolved trauma, spiritual abuse, and in helping clients to prepare for and integrate their psychedelic experiences. My aim is work with clients in a way that empowers them with tools and insights to move forward in life with confidence, increased compassion and care, resiliency and increased mindfulness.
Over many years of both professional and personal development and growth, through countless trainings on the latest therapeutic modalities and approaches, it always seems to come back to the need for a more compassionate connection to self and others. Combined with humility, forgiveness, and a courageous heart, the ripples effects of this intrapersonal work can be noticed in improved interpersonal relationships. The potential for profound life then changes emerges. A few other modalities and practices I include in order to support the foundational approaches mentioned above include: meditation, embodiment work, Jungian dream work, inner child work, narrative or schema therapy, nutrition and fitness, and nature-based Eco-psychology principles.
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As a wounded healer myself,
I can relate to my clients as they journey toward self healing, and I would be honored to walk beside you as we both seek to become compassionate warriors.
On my own personal healing journey, I have worked with many excellent therapists and healers. I am attuned to complex trauma from personal experience. The manifest sequelae of unresolved trauma often presents itself in the forms of depression, disconnection, relationship problems, addiction, avoidance, anger, you name it. These "symptoms" are often signposts pointing to the source of the injury that needs healed. And addictive behavior is often an attempt to cope, connect, and heal trauma. As a wounded healer myself, I can empathically relate to my clients as they journey toward self healing. Without judgment, and with gratitude, I work with clients where they are at in their process of becoming whole.
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I have a passion for social and environmental justice, and as an ever-aspiring multicultural counselor, I enjoy working with clients from diverse backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles. I am deeply interested in the re-emerging field of psilocybin assisted therapy (PAT) and I am happy and honored to work with clients as they integrate their own personal journeys. Traditional cultures have been using consciousness altering plant medicines for a thousand years or more as remedies for psychosocial ailments, and as a means to gain transpersonal wisdom. Again, I would honored to walk compassionately with you, and to help you work through any issues or concerns that may be showing up.
"We all got holes to fill, them holes are all that’s real. Some fall on you like a storm, sometimes you dig your own. The choice is yours to make, time is yours to take. Some dive into the sea, some toil upon the stone. . . To live is to fly, low and high. So shake the dust off of your wings and the sleep out of your eyes.”
– Townes Van Zandt
Years in Practice​
18 Years
License
Oregon / C3924 / since 2015
Masters
Clinical and Community Mental Health Counseling (M.Ed)
Ohio University
Masters thesis: Understanding the dynamics cults and the recovery process of former cult members
Undegraduate
Psychology and Religious Studies (BA)
The Ohio State University
Other ares of study: Religious studies - traditional cultures and shamanic practices, and Eastern philosophy
Clinical Work Experience
As a graduate school intern, I studied and worked as a Cult Recovery Counselor at a retreat center near Albany, Ohio which was founded and run by two psychologists. My first paid job in the field was as an Addiction and Recovery Therapist in Athens, Ohio where I facilitated many groups. From there I worked as a Child and Family Therapist and On-Call Crisis Worker in Portsmouth, Ohio during the peak of the opioid epidemic. I then worked as a School-Based Prevention Specialist in Batavia, Ohio often engaging in play therapy with at-risk youth.
In 2009, I moved to the desert Southwest and worked several years in Lake Havasu City, Arizona in both community mental health as a Crisis Intake Therapist, and then as an In-Home Family Therapist working with families involved with Children's Protective Services. In Nevada, I worked as the Senior Advocate Counselor with the Las Vegas Urban League where I oversaw the Urban Youth Empowerment Program. A major component of which was to work with criminal justice-involved youth in organizing Restorative Justice programs in the community, often working alongside Habitat for Humanity.
In 2015, I realized Oregon was the place I really wanted to be! I landed in the Umpqua Valley of Roseburg and worked as Forensic Mental Health Programs Coordinator, and I was a Certified Mental Health Investigator. I oversaw the Jail Diversion and the Aid and Assist (.370) programs, which were both aimed at diverting the seriously mentally ill into treatment and out of the criminal justice system. I also provided training and education to the community at large as a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor. The next several years were spent In remote La Grande, Oregon where I worked as an Adult Dual Diagnosis Therapist, continued work as the Aid and Assist Program Coordinator and rose to Certified Mental Health Examiner providing expert testimony on civil commitment cases. I also continued to provide on-call crisis services in the community. I found personal respite in nature, backpacking into the Eagle Cap Wilderness with my dog.
Feeling the need for a more diverse and progressive culture, I moved to the Willamette Valley. After a brief stint at Marion County HHS as an Exceptional Needs Program Coordinator during the height of the pandemic, my father died, I became physically ill, and I burned out working in the "system.". A much needed sabbatical followed that included holistic and alternative healing practices as well as plant based medicine work. I then chose to work with a small, private group practice in Salem. Where, with renewed vigor for providing therapy to individuals and couples, I felt I had reclaimed my calling as a therapist. After a few months I was promoted to Clinical Supervisor and I completed all the necessary, state-required training. After a year and half, I chose to leave this group practice to pursue a deeper calling - my own practice with a more expansive and holistic approach to therapy.
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The Founding
Wellbeing, as a concept and practice, requires kind and authentic connection, work-life balance, and a recognition we are a part of everything, and our surroundings impact how we feel and think. Providing therapy in a healthy environment is essential for both the client and the therapist, and with this truth and vision in mind I decided to open my own practice at the beginning of 2023, with an upgrade in office location at the end of 2023 when Wellbeing Counseling has moved to the Oregon Building in the Central Area of downtown Salem. There is free street parking and two public parking lots less than a block from the building. All around are a plethora of shops, restaurants, the courthouse grounds, the Capitol mall, and Willamette University is very close.
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Experience & Education
Equity and Inclusion
In my practice, I strive to create a space that welcomes all clients regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, or other aspect of difference. I recognize that many individuals feel overlooked, disregarded, or discriminated against within this country’s mental health system. I welcome your unique identity, and the way you make meaning in your life. I actively practice cultural humility and antiracism in my personal and professional life. I welcome the ways in which we are different from one another, for it is through relating to one another that we come to know ourselves and the infinite variety of human experience. In recognition of the historic disenfranchisement of BIPOC communities, and with the intention of increasing the accessibility of mental health services, I offer a sliding scale option for members of these marginalized groups.