Since 1988, I have worked in a variety of settings serving adults, families, couples, adolescents, and children. I bring this wealth of experience with me every day.

My Professional Journey

Undergraduate Education and Work Experience

Immediately after receiving my BS in Psychology from Washington State University (I realize that having a BS degree doesn't quite convey the image I'm trying to put forward here -- that's bachelor of science degree by the way ) I started my first real counseling job. Working in a residential drug and alcohol treatment center for adolescents, the first question one of teenage residents asked me was; "Are you a virgin?" I was 21 years old with little experience under my belt -- the answer was an emphatic, "Yes!" There's nowhere to hide with street smart adolescents. Working with the population for the next five years taught me humility, directness, honesty and how important it is for a counselor to get their own therapy.  

graduate Education and work experience

Seeing the limits of my undergraduate degree in addressing more complicated emotional issues, I completed a Masters of Psychology program at Seattle University. My degree in Existential-Phenomenological Psychology has the distinction of being among the hardest to pronounce graduate level counseling degrees you can earn. Existential-Phenomenolical Psychology (EP) is just a fancy way of saying that some of what's most important to know in helping others is what's most human in us all.

The existential part addresses how we can't escape facing issues of isolation, anxiety, death, and freedom -- to be alive is to live out these experiences. Discovering this essential truth can be more liberating than burdening. Our ability to make meaning in our lives and take responsibility for our lives is incredibly empowering. 

Phenomenology is a fancy philosophical concept that really just asks us to "get back to the things themselves." We can get caught up in psychological theories and ideas and lose sight of our direct access to the suffering, hurting individual right in front of us. We don't treat depression and anxiety,  we sit with real people, each different and unique in their day to day expression of joy and pain. More than techniques and tricks, what we need to help others is an appreciation of the essential nature of struggle itself and how to be there with them in that.

My graduate degree taught me how to cultivate an attitude toward others that is gentle, curious, and compassionate while still being able to make room for larger questions about who we are and where we find ourselves in life. 

During graduate school I worked as a counselor at a well respected residential home for emotionally  and behaviorally disturbed children. This was a kind of weigh station for kids taken from homes due to abuse or neglect. The only thing more compelling than the tragic stories of neglect and abuse these kids where subject to was the dedication of the staff in providing a caring and consistent therapeutic frame. Here I learned the depths of harm that we as a society can unleash on the most innocent as well as the use of compassion and straight forward behavioral intervention in addressing kids with difficulties with focus and compliance. 

post-graduate Work Experience

Following the completion of my masters degree I worked at Seattle Pacific University Counseling Center. child and family therapist for after my 

Some things i've done