I love this work. It informs everything I do and everything I am. It is an honor to witness the inestimable courage required to get into the hard stuff, into the mud and the muck and the pain of healing. There is humor in this work, and frailty and joy and absurdity, and I am here for all of it.
Why I do This Work
I was lucky enough to know what I wanted to be when I was still in my teens. My own childhood trauma made me hungry for language and understanding to make order out of the chaos. I spent the first eight years of my career working with kids in community mental health settings, many of whom were coping with abuse histories and struggling to make sense of their experiences just as I had. That work deepened the understanding of early childhood attachment and development that I draw from every day when I’m sitting with grownups who are trying to learn how to take care of the hurt kids still living inside them. We are all hurt kids in need of grownups that can pick us up and love us till we’re safe. In my years of doing this work I have learned that we’re not just the hurt kids in need of love – we’re also the grownups capable of giving it. That’s what therapy is about.
Animal Assisted Therapy
I often bring one of my dogs to work with folks processing trauma, because there are few things more grounding than the feel of fur and the rise and fall of breath under our hands. I’ve found that my dogs can sometimes pick up on minute mood changes that humans might miss, which always amazes me. If you’re allergic or not comfortable with dogs, just let me know!
More About Me
I’m a big nerd and I consume history and true crime podcasts at a startling rate. I bake cakes and compare them unfavorably to Great British Bake Off entries, but I keep trying. I have tons of tattoos that I only started getting in my 40s. I know enough to know that I don’t know everything. I’m an imperfect ally and I’m learning all the time.