I am a heart-centered Wellness Practitioner who offers both Eastern and Western therapeutic healing modalities so my clients can learn how to own their power and the fullest expression of who they are in the world.

I am a licensed psychotherapist, integration specialist, coach, group facilitator, teacher, presence maker, energy worker, intuitive channeler, spiritual practitioner, certified sound healer, community builder, creative, writer, poet, truth teller, plant mama, literal tree hugger, athlete, dancer, and ever-evolving dynamic human.

I am a grounded mystic, who can move and speak between worlds, belonging to both the Earth and the Ether. I help people to deepen their spirituality and connection to a bigger existential existence.

I bring a creative, playful, and energized presence, in full ownership of the wild parts of myself while also offering the depth of reverence, presence, wisdom, and space needed to support exploration of shadow in order to transmute it into light.  

I focus on turning back to the simplicity of Nature and the Mother Energy that Earth offers. I use peace and harmony as a guide.

I see deeply into people and teach them how to be in tune with and draw out their intuitive gifts so they can find their own fullness of presence and be seen, heard, known, loved, and in belonging. 

My Journey As A Wellness Practitioner

I believe we are here to value the desires of our heart and to grow deeply with ourselves and others, to exist in a community held in joy and unconditional love, that brings inspiration and alchemy to draw out the biggest, brightest version of ourselves. 

I have always been a deeply spiritual person with wildly intuitive experiences as far back as I can remember. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, deep in the Midwest, I was taught that this (and many other aspects of myself that didn’t fit into a certain box) were not ok to explore, so I learned to hide who I was in order to be accepted, and once I began working, to be seen as legitimate. This permeated every corner of my life.

At the same time as I was stepping into adulthood, I started having a series of serious mysterious medical issues that lasted for almost two decades. I’ve come to learn that because my voice and self-expression were not allowed, my body spoke for me. And, wow, was she angry. If we don’t listen to the whispers of our body, it will eventually start to scream. Once I stopped making my body a problem and deeply listened, everything started to change. (To learn more about my experience of conflict between my body and my emotions, you can read my blog post, To Tell The Truth.)

About a decade ago, following a big loss and life transition that broke me wide open, I started to allow myself to open in other ways, be more public, and share more of who I actually am. I lost a lot of people and learned hard lessons about the difference between conditional and unconditional love but in the midst of these lessons, I also learned how to turn that inward.

I spent time going further down every existential rabbit hole, luxuriating in my exploration, and cultivating new paths of spiritual practices. To me, spirituality is about going deeper within one’s self and contemplating life’s “Big Questions.” Sometimes that also includes going above and beyond the confines of what we know as a human in a human experience. All I know for sure is that there is so much that is a mystery. So, during this time, I came into public psychedelic work, joined a medicine group with several other licensed therapists, received formal Shamanic and Energy Work training, and realized I’d been doing it intuitively all along.

I love all the parts of me — especially the parts that others may hate. Clients often hear me share examples such as, “Oh, you think I am selfish and take up too much space? You know what, you are right! And I love that about me. I know what I need, I exist in freedom of self-expression, and get to connect deeply with myself and others because I am vulnerable. I hear that you hate that about me and want me to change. I actually wish you could show up more like me and experience that, too. I want to see more of you! I will step back if you also claim the space with me; I would prefer it. What stops you from taking up more space? Maybe your reaction says more about you than me, and is something you should be curious about. Rather than asking me to be smaller, can you get bigger and we can exist in the spaciousness together and know each other more deeply?”

I don’t hide from my family, friends, partner, clients, or strangers—I get to be an integrated presence in all the spaces I exist in and I get my needs met more than ever. If I am embraced, it is because I am celebrated rather than tolerated because I made myself less of who I am to fit in. Acceptance is not the same thing as belonging, and we all crave unconditional love and support — it is part of being a social creature, a human being.

I have owned my gifts more and more, step-by-step, and showed the bright bigness of who I am. I feel such freedom now and can’t imagine it another way and wonder how I ever lived without it. It has been worth the cost of grief and loss because on the other side I found transformation and a reclamation of myself and who I was underneath it all, all along.

So, in my work I focus on helping people reclaim themselves. I create Sacred Circles and mentor women on how to exist more fully in themselves while also in community. I hold space in psychedelic journeys so people can go deep into their consciousness to better understand life’s Great Mysteries. I teach therapists how to bring energy work into their practices to better support themselves and their clients. I run experiential workshops on how to hold deeper presence with yourself and your loved ones.

I marvel at the meandering path my life has taken and all that has led me into being the Wellness Practitioner that I am today. I started out in community mental health, working in jails and prisons as a therapist and social worker, and now here I am inviting others to step way outside of the box to find a different kind of freedom. I am grateful for all the hardships that have helped me better understand the human experience so I can better understand my clients and support them. I consider it a sacred honor to be invited into other’s lives to witness and honor them, too, so they can learn how to take up more space, have deeper connection to others and their environment, be in harmony with their body, and overall find a life that they truly love.  

I began in the mental health field in 2004 and in practicing psychotherapy in 2009. I’ve been in private practice since 2016 and some specialties include but are not limited to:

Education, Licensing & certifications

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the State of California (LCSW104042) and in the State of Colorado (CSW.09923287).

I formerly held a Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC) designation in the state of Colorado; it is now expired as I do not focus on that type of work anymore. However, addiction has an impact on (family) systems and this informs my ability to support the loved ones of someone in active addiction or in recovery, as the impact can linger relationally.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Belmont University and a Master’s degree in Social Work (Mental Health Concentration, Adult and Family) from the University of Illinois at Chicago Jane Addams College of Social Work. 

I have been trained in many modalities over 20 years but focus on the following at this time: I am trained in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Psychedelic Medicine, and Integration. I have been practicing KAP in private practice since February 2019. I am a Certified Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapist and have been practicing this modality since 2014. I was taught how to utilize Internal Family Systems (known as IFS or Parts Work) in my EMDR training, and have continued to take IFS trainings regularly since. I also teach meditation and somatic embodiment.  

See “What does is look like to work with you as a therapist?” at the bottom of this page or my counseling page for more detailed information.