Background & Experience

I am a nationally certified counselor and educator in private practice in Boulder, CO, where I offer individual and group psychotherapy for adolescents and adults. With my dual background in counseling psychology and higher education, I have nearly two decades of experience working with teens and adults in a range of settings and capacities—as a college instructor, advisor, coach, and counselor. I hold a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Colorado, Denver, and an M.A. in English from Purdue University. Before opening my private practice in 2009, I studied and practiced counseling in a variety of settings, including a university counseling center, a residential treatment program, and a community counseling center. I also have extensive training and experience in psychodynamic psychotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and the Hakomi Method. In addition to my private practice, I also currently serve as a counselor in the University of Colorado, Denver, Counseling Center and volunteer as a bereavement group facilitator for TRU Community Care hospice. 

Philosophy & Approach

People come to counseling for any number of reasons—relationship conflict, depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, or simply a sense of stuckness. In my experience, the difficulties that bring us to seek psychotherapy are best understood, not as symptoms of something “wrong” with us, but instead as expressions of our ongoing struggle to live our lives as fully as possible while negotiating some of life’s trickiest balancing acts—relationship, education, work, parenthood, and career, just to name a few.

These are the essential challenges of our ongoing, life-long development, and, social animals that we are, none of us can negotiate them alone. Unfortunately, these tasks can sometimes get sidetracked or even derailed by trauma, loss, illness, or overwhelming stress. At such times, we may lose ourselves and get tangled up in depression, anxiety, addiction, or other negative patterns and need help finding our way back—back to ourselves and back to the activities and people that give our lives meaning. By offering a safe environment and relationship to work through the difficulties of the past and live more fully and freely in the present, psychotherapy can help us cultivate the understanding, resources, skills, and connectedness we all need in order to thrive.

In keeping with this view, I take a developmental, collaborative approach, one that integrates the relational work of psychodynamic therapy with the more active, skills-based approaches of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Drawing on my specialized training in cognitive, psychodynamic, and mindfulness-based therapies, my approach begins with meeting clients where they are and inviting them to set their own goals for therapy. Whether you can pinpoint the source of your struggle or have no idea what’s wrong, we’ll work together to discover what’s holding you back, where you want to be, and what’s needed to get you there.