Services
About My Clients
I specialize in Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs), Empaths, college and graduate students, and creative people seeking greater understanding, emotional well-being, and a path forward. Other Areas of Focus: Ages 18 and beyond | Anxiety | Social Anxiety | Stress Management | Trauma and PTSD | Grief and Loss | Adjustment and Life Transitions |Depression and Bipolar | Loneliness | Personal Growth and Self-Esteem | Welcoming Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | LGBTQ+ Ally |
My Background and Approach
My interest in psychology began in college, when I turned my fascination with the individual into a career path. I graduated from St. Olaf College with a BA in Psychology. After gaining experience in psychiatric research, peer counseling, and support groups, I earned an MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. Working with clients in community mental health and patients on a psych unit expanded my compassion for people struggling with serious mental health issues. I balanced treating symptoms with supporting the healthy side of their personality—this gave me a fuller view of the whole person and strengthened our therapeutic relationship. I hope to offer an expression of care and a welcoming presence to each person I meet. Whatever people bring to counseling, my goal is to listen, understand, and create an environment where they feel respected and free to be themselves.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
I believe in the dignity of every person and that they are more than the challenges bringing them to counseling. Individual differences have always fascinated me—I appreciate how there are so many ways to experience the world. Working from a client's perspective and offering support that fits their way of being comes from a deep well of empathy I feel within. When I was very young, I developed an enthusiasm for multiculturalism. While others spoke of “tolerance” and “acceptance” of other cultures, I went all the way to celebration, delighting in all the different languages, traditions, colors, food, art, beliefs, customs, spirituality, rituals, values, identities, and everything else that brings life to a particular culture. And within those different cultures, there are still those fascinating individual differences that add other dimensions to each person. So instead of lumping people together, culture adds yet another rich dimension to an individual. Diversity is magical!