Services
- Individual
- Couples
About My Clients
The model I use to sum up my idea of therapy is that of a landscape we develop in our subconscious where everything that happens to us is sorted and feelings are used to alert us to what our subconscious thinks we should do. My ideal client is willing to enter that landscape as it exists now and join me in exploring the things that still work and those that don't. Then, we can work on new plantings that more accurately reflect what is in your life now and what you want for the future.
My Background and Approach
My jobs have included being a waitress, electronics assembler, baker, and homeschool mom. I have an AA in Commercial Art, a BS in Physics and had careers in both those disciplines as well as my main career, raising my children, before becoming a counselor. I like people, that is pretty much my approach and I use everything I have learned and continue to learn to get people to like themselves. My latest kick is learning about Internal Family Systems, I'm just starting as of late 2025 but I love what I believe is the main premise, which is we all are born with a Self and it gets obscured as we grow up with "Protectors" that shield us from being hurt. This fits in with my observed belief, which I would rate as about 90%, that stress and trauma are behind almost all of the issues people have. I am trained in several trauma treatments and certified in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and at the root of my practice is Carl Rogers' idea of unconditional regard.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
Counseling is the culmination of all I have done and my experience living is what has formed the beliefs that have proven to work well for me. The first one would be "I can believe what I want as long as there is no proof to the contrary;" I know from being a physicist that we as a culture do not understand the nature of reality. I don't know about other cultures, some of them seem to have a better handle on it. Second, "I am not my thoughts." Full stop. "Everybody is doing their best, even when it isn't working for them" is another. For example, I never once got up in the morning and said "today I'm going to ruin my life." Or my children's lives, people make the best choices they can at the time, and the mistakes can be our teachers, if we let them. Lastly I truly believe the saying from the Al-anon literature "There is no problem so bad that it can't be bettered and no unhappiness so great that it can't be lessened." Let's find the beliefs that work for you.