Education
Credentials and Education:
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Oregon, License #C9253
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Master of Arts in Counseling
Northwestern University, 2022
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Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing,
Eastern Washington University, 2017
Bachelor of Arts in English with High Honors
Kenyon College, 2015​​
My Spiritual Journey:
When I was 22, I started meditating casually and listening to dharma talks on YouTube. Without knowing what I was getting myself into, I signed up for a weekend meditation retreat at a Zen Buddhist monastery to deepen my practice. This experience shifted my focus in life and kick-started my spiritual journey. After years of focus on creative writing and literature, I began prioritizing spiritual practice. After the retreat, I attended week-long meditation retreats (called sesshin) at the Zen monastery and then completed a seven-month monastic residency there, engaged in monthly retreats and daily meditation. I continued attending retreats after completing my residency, including outdoor retreats through this Zen community in the mountains of the pacific northwest. Shortly thereafter, I began exploring other forms of spirituality, sitting in ceremony in other traditions outside of Zen, in both formal and less formal spiritual settings. I remain connected to a contemplative community and maintain a regular meditation practice. I also attend weekly therapy as a client. I believe therapists must keep doing their own inner work, and I’m committed to that ongoing growth as I accompany my clients.
​My Clinical Journey:
My clinical work began in residential settings with adolescents, where I learned the deep fundamentals of safety, attunement, and trust. After completing my residency at the Zen monastery in 2019, I supported adolescent boys at Parrott Creek Child & Family Services, first as a direct support staff member and then as a case manager. I served as a case manager for one year before transitioning to a part-time role while completing my Master of Arts in Counseling at Northwestern University. During this time, I also worked with adolescent girls as a direct support worker in a program serving Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC), a vulnerable population. These experiences taught me the core principles of the therapeutic alliance and how to blend relational depth, safety, and creative, unconditional support that honors each person's unique journey. These roles were often emotionally demanding, requiring emotional fortitude, teamwork, and creativity. I am deeply grateful for these experiences and consider them to be a vital part of my professional foundation.
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While completing my training at Northwestern, I also served as an outpatient therapist for adults at a group practice. There, I supported clients with a wide range of concerns—including many listed on the front page of this website—while continuing supervision and ongoing learning. I gravitated toward trauma work, particularly helping clients unburden negative beliefs shaped by past experiences. After earning my Master’s, I continued supporting clients as a Professional Counselor Associate in a variety of settings. I first worked at Parrott Creek Child & Family Services, then ran my own private practice, and later transitioned to Albertina Kerr Subacute. Supervision from an expert in dissociative disorders while I ran my own private practice further informed my work with trauma survivors.
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In my final year as an associate, I settled at a group practice where I integrated these experiences to serve adolescents, young adults, emerging adults, and older adults, supporting clients with anxiety, depression, trauma, self-esteem, dissociation, life transitions, relational issues, and more. This period solidified my aspiration to work in private practice, offering my flexible, client-centered approach to psychotherapy to those drawn to work with me.
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​Inclusivity Statement: I have supported clients with a wide range of identities, including ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, and religion. I often work with clients in the LGBTQIA+ community, including transgender clients, and I strive to create a space that is affirming, respectful, and real. I recognize that many clients in these communities have had negative experiences in therapy, and I am committed to providing care that honors your identity, experiences, and autonomy without judgment or bias.
In addition, I also don't discriminate against clients on the basis of what diagnostic labels they may have been given in the past, what symptomology they currently present with, or how intense those symptoms may currently be. I feel that this statement is increasingly important in a mental health space that at times misunderstands the utility of diagnoses and stigmatizes clients/patients on the basis of diagnostic criteria. I do not make assumptions about who you are or what you are capable of because of diagnoses you have been given in the past, or because of your current experience, and I encourage you not to jump to any conclusions about yourself, either!
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Payment and Scheduling: I accept Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield and Providence insurance (I don’t accept Oregon Health Plan Providence). I also accept out of pocket/out of network at a rate of $150 per session, and I can easily provide a detailed receipt for you to submit to your insurance for possible out of network reimbursement, if your plan offers this. I am currently teletherapy only and run sessions from around 9am-5pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with some flexibility outside of those times if needed.