Clinical Specialties / Client Profile:

• Anxiety,
• Depression,
• ADHD,
• Trauma,
• Substance use,
• Lack of identity and sense of self,
• ASD,
• Bright with processing speed gaps.

I am an Idaho native and spent my childhood deepening my love for the outdoors in the mountains near Boise. As a high schooler, I went to my career counselor and told her I was passionate about two things: outdoor adventure and helping others. This quickly led to the pursuit of a degree in recreation management and youth leadership with an emphasis in therapeutic recreation. After practicing as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist for a decade, I returned to school to pursue my master’s degree in social work with an emphasis in clinical mental health and addictions. Over the course of my career, I have had invaluable opportunities working with youth in therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centers, juvenile corrections, sports programs, after-school programming, summer camps, psycho-social rehabilitation services, a private day school, psychiatric hospital and wilderness therapy. Each of these opportunities has allowed me to share my passion for the outdoors with others and help them find their own healing and peace that can come when we enter nature with an open heart. The natural world has so much to teach us, and I have found that when I am willing to listen, my greatest lessons come.

I have experience in a number of interventions and modalities including certification in Brainspotting and trainings in Internal Family Systems (IFS), ATTACh (attachment trauma), SPACE (parenting children with anxiety), RULER (emotional regulation), CRM (trauma resiliency), Arbinger (interpersonal relationships) Gottman Institute (couple’s counseling) and others. One that has spoken to my heart and led much of my personal and professional pursuits is Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Using this monomyth as a framework, I have led many outdoor adventure intensives both domestically and internationally. Joseph Campbell is known for this adage, ‘the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.’ The transformative power of these experiences has centered on building deep connections that allow for safety, vulnerability and sharing of one’s story. Creating experiences with groups of people where this emotional safety, vulnerability, and the ability to work in one’s growth zone where self-discovery and transformation takes place is the pinnacle of the work that I do and truly where the ’treasure’ is found. The journey within is the greatest journey of all and I find great joy in helping adolescents who struggle with anxiety, depression, low self-worth, ADHD, oppositional defiance and attachment trauma to do that inner work. I strive to build deep and meaningful relationships with those that I work with and approach each interaction from a relationship-based perspective. I find that in doing this same work with the families of the struggling adolescent, a magical transformation takes place and unity, joy and healing can be found.

I hold my supervision license as an LCSW as well as current certification as a CTRS and I enjoy supporting new clinicians in finding their best-self in their professional practice, presenting at conferences, and working cohesively with families and team members to find best practice options for individuals and their families.

I believe whole-heartedly in creating a balanced self. I find that balance for myself comes through spending time with my husband and two boys in the mountains. We love dirt biking, camping, climbing, mountain biking, backpacking, skiing and taking in mother nature and all the lessons she has to offer in any way we can.