about me
I knew early on in life that being a therapist was my passion. I began in high school, volunteering as a teen counselor for peers and facilitating education groups for teens and parents around sex and sexuality through HiTOPS Teen Council in Princeton, NJ. After graduating from CU Boulder, I returned to the east coast and apprenticed with a "Body Psychotherapist," learning about somatic therapy interventions as well as various art therapy and Gestalt therapy techniques. During this time in my life, I delved into a seated meditation practice and yoga along with therapy, as I was working with my own experience of anxiety, depression and addictive behaviors. As a believer in the self-work I was doing and following my passion, I returned to the Boulder area to attend Naropa University's Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology.
I specialize in working with couples. I have over a decade of experience in the field of Psychotherapy and I have worked with a variety of individuals and couples, from the agency setting to private practice.
I have worked for the Addiction Recovery Center (ARC) of Boulder as both a detox counselor and as lead therapist for Boulder's Transitional Residential Treatment (TRT) program. Following that, I worked as an Outpatient Clinical Therapist and Substance Abuse Counselor for Mental Health Partners, providing individual and group services for clients struggling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar and personality disorder, as well as with substance abuse and court mandated treatment for social services and Boulder's Integrated Treatment Courts. I have also worked for Noeticus Counseling Center and Training Institute in Denver, serving low-income individuals and couples in the Denver-metro area. Before moving to Steamboat, I served on the executive board of the Colorado Group Psychotherapy Society (now the Four Corners Group Psychotherapy Society). I relocated to beautiful Steamboat Springs to work for the Foundry Treatment Center as their Residential Clinical Therapist before reopening my private practice.
I was drawn to PACT therapy due to the impact that PACT had on my own marriage and the relationships in my life. For me, it was life changing. I was fortunate to complete levels 1-3 directly with Stan Tatkin, creator of PACT and co-founder of the PACT Institute. I continue with consultation groups with Stan and am continuously learning and sharing new techniques from and with the best therapists in the field. I have found my life’s work working with couples, and thoroughly enjoy what I do and the skills PACT therapy provides me to do it.
Outside of therapy, I consider myself to be an outdoor enthusiast (especially during backpacking season!) and spend as much time as I can outside with my two daughters and husband.
Certification and credentials:
MA: Master's in Contemplative Psychotherapy from Naropa University.
LPC: Licensed Professional Counselor
LAC: Licensed Addictions Counselor - continuing education classes and over 3000 hours clinical work experience in addictions counseling, can provide supervision to CACI, CACII and CACIII/LAC candidates
ADS: Auricular Detoxification Specialist - 5 point Auricular Acupuncture as provided by the NADA protocol (also known as AcuDetox). Learn more about the NADA protocol here
EMDR Therapy level I: 5 month-long training on EMDR Therapy with ongoing supervision and consultation as well as continued training on EMDR Therapy for Addictions. Please see the EMDR Therapy tab under "Services" for more information about EMDR Therapy.
PACT Level 3 Therapist: Level I, II and III training with Stan Tatkin of the PACT Institute in the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy. Learn more about PACT here.
DBT Skills Trainer: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is an Evidenced-based practice, using the foundations of Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation and Distress Tolerance techniques.
ASIST Training: Applied suicide intervention skills training
