About Me

​

 

Just out of college, I began my professional life as counselor and case manager working with women and children fleeing domestic and sexual abuse.  I am an ordained United Methodist pastor who I served for 12 years in local churches, walking with families across the entire lifespan from birth to death and through every sort of challenge and transition.  More than 16 years of foster and adoptive parenting led to my interest in trauma, grief, and loss. In 2019, I joined the team at the Duke Clergy Health Initiative researching evidence-based interventions for stress and burnout among clergy, stepping away briefly to pursue my counseling license.  While in graduate school, I had the privilege of working with young people and education professionals in a school setting and gained valuable insight into the world young people face each day.  Now, working in a clinical setting, I appreciate the ability to slow the pace, listen deeply, and integrate the various threads of my past into professional wisdom that can be shared with others. My favorite clients and areas of expertise are emerging adults and parents, especially parents of LGBTQ+ children who are working to reconcile their faith with their love for their children as well as all of those adults who serve others as their primary vocation: clergy, seminarians, nonprofit leaders, caregivers, physicians, and teachers. 

​

My family lives in Durham, NC. I am parent to two boys, now themselves navigating the challenges of adolescence. I understand the challenges that face parents who seek the best for their children while carrying the weight of what their future may hold. When I’m not working, you will probably find me reading a book, out on a run, advocating for strong public schools, or gathering people on my back porch in my own messy, complicated, and emergent life!

 

​​

​

I meet clients right where they are, with compassion, warmth, and a little bit of humor. I work hard  to de-stigmatize seeking support for the challenges clients face. My goal is a collaborative relationship that allows you to recognize and build on your strengths towards healing. My approach to counseling is strengths-based, solution-focused, and primarily informed by ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), and Mindful Self-Compassion. I am always looking for creative ways to make connections with and for clients while remaining committed to applying evidence-based practices as you navigate significant life transitions, questions of meaning and identity, and the grief that inevitably comes when living through change and uncertainty.