I'm a licensed clinical psychologist and received my Psy.D. in 2012 from Pacific University in Hillsboro, OR. Since then I've worked in a variety of settings in Wisconsin including corrections, a residential program, and a large healthcare organization. 

Over those years my interest for integrating mindfulness and meditation into my clinical practice grew and I could see the benefits that clients were having from these practices and strategies. My own personal mindfulness and meditation practice developed over that time as well and I experienced directly the benefits of these practices in my life. This led me to completing a 2 year Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Certification Program through Sounds True so that I could effectively teach others these life changing practices. 

I believe that just like a lotus flower can rise out of the mucky waters, bloom untouched by the muck, and rest peacefully above the water; we can rise from the muck of life and rest peacefully in our lives. Not only that, we can use this muck of life as nutrients to cultivate wisdom, compassion, insight, happiness, peace, joy, calm… all the good stuff.

Together we can find ways to work with that muck of being human, from the stressors of life to symptoms of anxiety, so that you can engage in your life fully and maybe even transform that muck into nutrients for joy and happiness.

I know this sounds a bit far fetched, but I would invite you to check out this different way of looking at it and see what happens. 

“Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

In order for us to be able to grow from the muck of life, we need some strategies that allow us to do this. I use a foundation of mindfulness-based therapy to develop awareness and acceptance of the present moment, which includes what is going on around us and within us. When we can develop this we can then respond to difficulty in skillful ways that can prevent a downward spiral into more difficult feelings. 

When we are able to build this kind of awareness we also learn so much about how our bodies and minds work and the conditioned patterns that we have been operating on for much of our lives. When we can see clearly the conditioned patterns that create pain in our lives we can start to change them and transform them into wisdom compassion, insight, happiness, peace, joy, and calm. 

I also integrate cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) strategies into this framework. In addition to mindfulness strategies, CBT strategies can be skillful ways of responding when we become aware of difficulty showing up in our lives. This might include developing more balanced thinking (cognitive) or engaging in enjoyable, productive, or self-care activities (behavioral). If you would like to learn more about mindfulness-based therapy and CBT check out the services pages.