About Me
I come from a mountain-encircled valley in Eagle River, Alaska. I grew up in a loving family – and also in a religious community that asked a LOT of me from a young age. With a personality that was oriented toward both caring for others and living up to high standards, I spent a lot of time making sure everyone else was okay and desperately trying to conform to the rules and expectations I’d been given. A bit further down the road, during a time of deep soul-searching, I began to see all of the ways that parts of myself and my identity were being constricted by what I’d been given. I embarked on a journey of reimagining who I am, what I believe, and what it looks like when I get to take greater ownership of my life.
My experiences have given me a deep compassion for all who feel like they don’t fit in or haven’t been accepted as they are, whether because of their unique personality, neurodiversity, experience as an immigrant, sexuality, trauma, or something else. I love to help people take stock of their story and the messages they’ve received about themselves. Together, we work on reorienting the narrative to include a person’s unique strengths that have helped them survive, and we explore what it means to thrive.
Life is challenging, unpredictable, and often heartbreaking. There are no guarantees and no prizes. But there are rich relationships and great adventures waiting for anyone willing to take responsibility to cultivate their own life, like a garden or a work of art.
You’ve made it this far running on a combination of strengths and abilities unique to you – and on a set of trauma symptoms and emotional patterns that some days feels like a straitjacket. My goal is to help you make sense of what you’ve experienced and begin to heal. We’ll work on rewiring your nervous system toward a greater sense of safety and agency. This happens both through the restorative experience of a healing relationship in the therapy room, and through identifying tools and resources for self-regulation that you can use outside of my office. Instead of overriding your body’s sense of danger or need for boundaries, as often happens in life, we’ll begin to honor your innate wisdom about what you need and what’s important to you.
I work with people who want to dive deep and get to the root of things so they can truly live. People who are curious, quietly courageous, and ready to explore what their bodies and emotions are telling them. People who are willing to entertain the possibility that their past doesn’t have to define their future, and that life can be unexpectedly incredible in spite of pain. If that’s you, I would love to talk with you.
"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." ~Frederick Buechner