About Me
I’ve always been drawn to patterns, personality, and the deeper forces that shape who we are. Therapy is where curiosity, compassion, and deeper understanding come together.
My Story
When I was an angsty teenager who felt deeply misunderstood, I discovered astrology. I remember being amazed that a book written by someone I had never met could describe parts of me so clearly.
That experience sparked a lasting fascination with personality, patterns, and what makes people tick. I wanted to understand why people respond to the world the way they do, how we become who we are, and what helps us grow into fuller versions of ourselves. I have been following those questions ever since.
1. Searching for direction
When I was younger, I loved theater, singing, writing, and all kinds of creative expression. As I entered adulthood, though, I struggled to find my place in the working world. I wanted to do something meaningful, but I didn’t know what that would look like. I spent a lot of years searching and doing what I needed to survive, without feeling like I was truly thriving.
How I Became a Therapist
My path to becoming a therapist was not exactly direct.
2. Reconnecting with creativity
Reading The Artist’s Way was a turning point. It helped me reconnect with creativity and remember how powerful creative expression can be—not only as a form of art, but as a way of understanding ourselves, accessing emotions, and finding movement when we feel stuck. That realization eventually led me to graduate school for expressive arts therapy and counseling.
3. Choosing a path
During my training, my earlier crisis-line work supporting survivors of sexual assault began to connect with what I was learning clinically. A year-long trauma seminar with Judith Herman, author of Trauma and Recovery, deepened my understanding of how trauma can shape the nervous system, relationships, identity, and the ways people learn to move through the world.
4. Deepening my calling
That experience changed the direction of my work. Over time, I found my greatest sense of purpose in working with people healing from complex trauma and the lasting impact of their earliest relationships.
5. Living my purpose
Today, I feel deeply honored to work with adults who want to understand the patterns they developed in order to survive, move beyond what no longer serves them, and create lives with more choice and agency. I continue to be moved by the courage it takes to show up for this work, and by the opportunity to witness and support the changes that follow.
What It’s Like to Work With Me
My style is warm, curious, collaborative, and engaged. I am not a blank-slate therapist, and you will know there is a real person in the room with you. I bring authenticity, thoughtful feedback, and my own perspective to our conversations while respecting that you are the expert on your own experience. Clients tell me that I bring a sense of fun and playfulness to what can be very deep work, and people are often surprised by how much laughter can happen even when we’re talking about hard things. I’m also an avid nonfiction reader and podcast listener, so you might leave our sessions with a few more recommendations than you initially thought possible.
I work holistically, which means we won’t only talk about your thoughts and feelings. We may also talk about sleep, habits, relationships, hobbies, routines, what’s happening in your body, and the practical things that make daily life easier or harder. Sometimes therapy is exploring a lifelong emotional pattern. Sometimes it’s figuring out how to breathe through anxiety, remember to drink water, or brush your teeth when life feels overwhelming. Usually, it’s a combination of both.
Professional Background & Approach to Therapy
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Pennsylvania and Ohio, with a Master of Arts in Expressive Arts Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University. I have over a decade of experience working with adults in a variety of settings, including inpatient and outpatient care, group settings, and individual therapy.
My approach is trauma-informed, relational, holistic, and grounded in an understanding of how our earliest experiences can shape the ways we relate to ourselves, other people, and the world around us. My work also draws from creative, somatic, and insight-oriented approaches, and I often incorporate mindfulness practices depending on what feels useful and meaningful for each person. This can include noticing where emotions show up in the body and exploring the connection between physical sensations, thoughts, feelings, and nervous-system responses. I am trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy, a structured method that can help people process distressing memories, images, and emotional responses.
My work is also grounded in feminist therapy and a systems-aware perspective. My own life experiences have taught me that emotional wellbeing cannot be separated from the systems we live in—including our access to resources, the communities we belong to, the cultural messages we receive, and the institutions and power structures that shape our lives. Financial stress, discrimination, family roles, and cultural expectations around gender and appearance can all shape the stress we carry, the choices available to us, and the way we understand ourselves.
In therapy, we can pay attention to those influences alongside your individual experiences—looking at where you have choices, where choices may have been limited, and where you want to reclaim more power in your own life.
Finally, I believe therapy is about more than understanding pain or reducing symptoms. It can also be a place to reconnect with parts of yourself that may have gone dormant: your voice, your preferences, your creativity, your capacity for joy, and your sense of what makes life meaningful. An important part of my work is helping people move beyond patterns rooted in fear, obligation, or survival and instead develop a greater sense of agency, intention, and choice.
A Little More About Me
Outside of my work, I’m a devoted cat mom, an enthusiastic admirer of the outdoors, and a lifelong lover of snow and all things sparkly. I’ve been collecting shiny rocks (also known as crystals) for nearly as long as I’ve been able to walk. I’ve also lived in many different parts of the United States, including long stretches in California and Colorado.
And yes, astrology is still part of my world.
You absolutely do not have to be interested in astrology to work with me. But if you are, and you want to talk about it, I can absolutely go there with you. Astrology can offer a fascinating lens for exploring personality, relationships, recurring patterns, and themes that keep showing up in our lives.
The same goes for creativity, symbolism, your spiritual path, and other ways of making meaning. You do not have to leave those parts of yourself outside the therapy room.
I strive to bring my whole self to this work, and I invite you to do the same.