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About MeI am a clinical psychologist and Colorado native practicing in Boulder County. I offer diverse psychotherapy services to children, teens, and adults, and specialize in the treatment of depression, anxiety, trauma and grief, adjustment/life transition issues across the age span, disability and chronic illness, learning disabilities and neurodiversity, educational prep, and LGBTQ issues.
I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Religion at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. I received my Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University in Palo Alto, CA. I completed my pre-doctoral internship at Life Skills Psychological Services, in Cadillac, MI. I've worked predominantly in urban community mental health centers, elementary and middle schools, and private clinics in California, Colorado, and Michigan. In line with my particular passion for helping individuals with chronic illnesses manage their health and navigate life, my dissertation research focused on self-care, continuity of care, and treatment adherence in adults with spina bifida. 
Areas of Focus
Treatment Philosophy and Approach
I believe that, in life, the only person you can truly control is yourself. You can't always change what happens to you, but you can choose how to react to life events--how you're going to cope now, how you might navigate similar problems in the future, what you're going to learn, and most of all, the story you're going to tell yourself in the end.
I believe that "normal" is a setting for washing machines, not people. Too many of us make ourselves miserable trying to live up to some standard that doesn't fit with our skills, our limits, our personality, and our deepest desires. The dolphin that tries to fly and the songbird that tries to swim are both going to end up miserable. At the same time, even those of us who've come to terms with who we are still need to navigate a world that will hold us to certain expectations. We must all therefore find some balance between expressing and celebrating ourselves as we are, and adapting to the demands and rules of our environment in order to survive and thrive. I believe that people do what they know and work with what they have, and that even maladaptive behaviors typically serve some kind of purpose. Scratch the surface of that inner critic, for example, and you'll often find a weary inner protector who wants to shield you from the cruelty of the world, but only knows how to do that through insults and guilt-trips. The key to changing many maladaptive behaviors and negative thought processes, then, lies in identifying their underlying positive intention, and then developing other, better tools for meeting that same goal. I believe that even though it may be inevitable, change is painful and hard, and that at some level, most of us would prefer to stick with painful "known" than confront some scary unknown that could be better or could be worse. This is why we often find ourselves clinging to old habits and thought patterns we know are unhealthy or unhelpful, and may need extra encouragement or support in taking those powerful steps towards change. I apply the tools and insights I've gleaned from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Existential Therapy, and other modalities to help clients make sense of their experiences, take control of the "stories" they tell themselves, develop a toolbox of coping strategies, and identify and channel their unique qualities (strengths and flaws both!) in order to make the most out of life. |