It can be exhausting trying to be who everyone else needs you to be. Sometimes we become so focused on meeting expectations, keeping other people happy, holding everything together, or simply getting through what is in front of us that we gradually lose touch with ourselves.
I work individually with children, adolescents, and adults navigating trauma, inner conflict, relationship difficulties, life transitions, emotional struggles, and challenges in the way they see and relate to themselves. I am especially drawn to working withteenagers and young adults, who are often trying to figure out who they are while facing enormous pressure—from family, relationships, school, work, social media, and sometimes themselves—to be who they think they are supposed to be. It can be a lonely experience to feel misunderstood by the people around you while simultaneously losing confidence in your own voice.
I want therapy to offer something different.
With me, you don’t have to perform. You don’t have to have the right answer, explain everything perfectly, or show up already knowing what needs to change. We can slow things down, become curious about what is happening inside you, and make room for the parts of your experience that may not have had much room anywhere else.
My style as a therapist is warm, playful, nurturing, exploratory, humorous, passionate, and highly relational. I care deeply about the people I work with, and I want therapy to feel human. There will be room for painful emotions and difficult conversations, but there will also be room to laugh, recognize progress, celebrate small victories, and simply be yourself.
My clinical work integrates Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and person-centered therapeutic play. While these approaches are different, they share something important in my work: rather than treating a symptom as though it exists in isolation, we become curious about what is underneath it and what your emotions, behaviors, and internal conflicts may be trying to communicate.
Through my training in EMDR, I help clients process traumatic or distressing experiences that may continue to affect the way they feel, respond, or relate in the present. My advanced training in AEDP brings a deeply relational and experiential dimension to our work, helping clients slow down and experience emotions within the support of the therapeutic relationship rather than having to manage them alone. I also draw from Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help clients approach conflicting or difficult parts of themselves with curiosity and compassion rather than shame or judgment.
With children, I incorporate person-centered therapeutic play because children do not always have the words to explain what is happening inside them. Play, creativity, and relationship can provide another language through which children express themselves, explore difficult experiences, and begin making sense of their emotional worlds.
Before joining Discovery, I worked with diverse populations in both residential and outpatient settings, particularly with women, children, and adolescents experiencingtrauma, substance use concerns, and interpersonal conflict. Those experiences reinforced something that continues to shape the way I practice today: behavior rarely tells the whole story. Understanding someone requires looking beyond what we can see from the outside and becoming curious about what they have experienced, what they are carrying, and what they may have needed along the way.
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and earned my Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from LaGrange College. My advanced clinical training includesLevel 1 EMDR training and Level 2 AEDP training, and I continue to deepen my work in trauma-focused, experiential, and relational therapies.
I believe therapy can be a place where you finally slow down, become honest about what hurts, and learn to see yourself with greater compassion. Healing isn’t about turning yourself into someone different. Sometimes it is about finding your way back to yourself—the person underneath the expectations, painful experiences, self-doubt, and ways you may have learned to adapt to what life required of you.
Outside the therapy room, I enjoy anime, video games, music and concerts, reading, nature walks, kayaking, and fishing. Those interests are part of who I am, and I don’t expect you to leave the interesting, quirky, complicated, or imperfect parts of yourself outside my office either.
If you choose to work with me, you don’t need to arrive with everything figured out. Just show up as you are. We’ll make room for the hard stuff, celebrate the small wins, probably laugh along the way, and begin figuring out together where you want to go from here.