MY STORY

I secured my Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from Southern Nazarene University in 2008. I started my individual practice in 2011 with a License in Professional Counseling and gained the National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential in 2012.  I hold licenses in the states of Nebraska (LIMHP), Missouri (LPC), Oklahoma (LPC), and Washington (LMHC). I currently practice in Nebraska. I've had the privilege to journey with clients for over 13 years. 

I grew up poor in inner city Indianapolis during desegregation busing in the 70s, I'm the fourth of four girls raised by a single mother in a multi-musical, culturally diverse family. I didn’t have many positive male role models growing up for guidance on navigating relationships or the opportunity to learn important life lessons from a father's perspective. Nor were there a lot of intact marriages in my family and community that exemplified what a healthy, committed relationship looked like. And yet, I knew from an early age that I wanted to do whatever it took to find and maintain my own healthy marriage, one worth having and emulating.

As I grew older, I unofficially studied every example of a positive relationship I could find. After completing a behavioral science course during my freshman year of college, I developed a passion to understand more about the way our brains and bodies are connected. I remember my behavioral science teacher explaining how despite having the most intelligent brains on the planet, humans only use a scant percentage of the entirety of their brains. This was intriguing. Our brains are the most sophisticated among any living creature and we still know so little about them.

With my passion for behavioral science and helping others, especially those marginalized, you can imagine my happy surprise when I discovered there was an entire field of marriage and family therapy! I remember saying to myself, “You mean I can make a living helping other people do what I want to learn about anyway? Where do I sign!?” A school counselor once told me that you know a career is for you when you’d do it for free if your other needs were met. Once I started my training, I became even more certain that I’d found my calling. Today, I’m living my goal of being a LIMHP focused on strengthening individual, couple, and family relationships as I continue my search for meaning to all the “whys” of human behavior that make us uniquely whole humans, personally, relationally, and spiritually.

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I have three lovely children. I enjoy traveling, art, playing the Cello, spending time with my family and pets, eating delicious things, and yammering on about whatever I happen to find interesting.