I have always cared about people, and it was out of this care that I became passionate about the field of mental health. I have led my career directions around my own philosophies about connections to others, expressing ourselves, how we see ourselves, and making meaning from our experiences. In undergrad, I struggled with my own mental health, unaware of what was going on yet feeling incredibly lost. I grew in my understanding of who I was through the acceptance of others in the music program I was involved in and the people I was surrounded by. I came to recognize and develop a language for an ongoing relationship with depression and anxiety. Knowing I was not alone in my experience was healing for me. Seeing a therapist at this point in time gave me more skills in how to listen to myself in conscientious, compassionate ways. I recognized the ways I enjoyed listening to others and supporting them, and was determined to make steps towards being a therapist, hoping that I could bring similar feelings of being seen and not alone to others.

After college, I worked as a youth case manager in a rural setting with young people and their families, all of whom had some exposure to traumatic events. This shaped my understanding of how human our responses to trauma are, yet how much they can affect us in ways that we may not want. Our minds try to protect us. Sometimes, these affects have unhelpful, unintended consequences that no longer serve us in additive ways. Ultimately, I chose to focus my career around providing mental health support to my own community. I observed how society can make a harmful imprint in the LGBTQIA+ community, and I aim to bring my education and experiences to the table to support mental health for LGBTQIA+ folx.

As a therapist, I work with clients through interrupting patterns of intergenerational trauma as a result of emotional and psychological abuse and neglect in fundamental relationships in people’s lives. Recognizing that our community has high rates of exposure to various forms of trauma, I wanted to gain training in trauma-based practices while in my graduate studies at Temple University. During my graduate education, I built upon my counseling skills to provide trauma-informed care in mental health spaces. I am in the process of being EMDR trained, which incorporates important elements of reprocessing of and coping with traumatic events that have been difficult to move past.

Being a queer therapist, I believe that we don’t exist in a vacuum: our everyday experiences, culture, upbringing, oppression of our identities, how we have been treated by others, and how we have learned to cope through these experiences shape the resilient people we are. Because of this, my approach to counseling is systems-based while being individualized to your needs. By this I mean understanding your relationship to your attachment figures, the roles you hold in your life, social justice, community, resources, and how you have coped with the hardships you’ve endured so far. I emphasize compassion and reflection in my therapeutic practice, and collaborate with you to understand the life you want to live, the aspects and values you hold close to you, and the ways to incorporate these in fulfilling and authentic ways to you.