About
Are you looking for peace, balance, and meaning in your life? Connecting mind, body, and spirit can be difficult at times and sometimes a little help from a professional can make it better. Are you in need of a healing environment to explore and develop new resources for a life transition or grief and loss? Would you like to have the spiritual dimension woven into the clinical dimension to guide you through your journey within an atmosphere of safety where we proceed slowly, gently, and non-violently? Are you curious about gut microbiome health and the mind-body connection?
I have training in state-of-the-art somatic interventions, through the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, which is substantiated by interpersonal neurobiology and mindfulness, to tap into the wisdom of your body and promote healing to realize your full potential. My education also includes training in Pastoral Clinical Mental Health Counseling which combined theology and psychotherapy. Recently, my continuing education has included Dr. Leslie Korn's Nutritional and Integrational Medicine for Mental Health Professionals and trainings in the wisdom teachings of the Enneagram, a powerful and insightful tool for understanding ourselves. "The Enneagram is a tool that helps to wake us up to what is real and to our gifts..." (The Awakened Company). Presently, I am in a program for certification through The Narrative Enneagram (practitioner track).
If you have not made progress with other therapeutic modalities or therapists or you are at the point in your life where your spirituality cannot be separated from who you are and how you live your life, please contact me. My training prepared me to meet the unique mental and spiritual demands of our modern, global society. I am open to hearing your story.
My Approach
My Background and Approach: It is important for me to read between the lines, at times, and to ask the right questions so that you feel heard and understood, bringing a "mix" of interventions to each client using three "ways of being". I sit with each person knowing that each person has the capacity and desire for personal growth and change; I listen with the understanding that each person is multidimensional with a varied past and family dynamics which are influential; and I intervene using whatever approach is appropriate for you personally and at the time that you are in my presence.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests: My background is varied. Initial studies in college were as a French and Spanish major, influenced by my two summers in Panama learning Spanish and living with a Panamanian family. This changed my life as the Panamanian way of life was much different from that to which I was accustomed. In my sophomore year, a switch to a major in Speech and Language Pathology occurred because I was interested in both Language and Psychology, and Speech and Language seemed to fit this. I spent four years in the U. S. Air Force as a Russian Linguist. Later, still pulled by my interest in Psychology, I went back to school for a graduate degree in Pastoral Clinical Counseling and later a doctorate in Counseling Psychology. Spiritual, emotional, and psychological health are huge components of the path to integration. It is a continual process to quiet the ego in our lives so that our "true self" can emerge. I am also working on accommodating a minimalist lifestyle into my life for a greater sense of freedom and nurturing my true self.
