Education and Personal Information:
I earned my Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from the University of North Dakota in 2001; and my Master’s of Arts in Counseling: Marriage and Family Therapy from Argosy University in Minnesota in 2004. I currently hold licenses in Minnesota and Colorado.
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my husband and our two children. My kids are both teenagers now and parenting has never been so rewarding (or terrifying)! I love cooking, baking, traveling, and since the pandemic I've become an avid indoor cyclist. I love animals and am lucky to share my home with both a cat and a dog. Our family moved here in June 2020 from Minnesota, so we are still enjoying exploring Colorado. After growing up in the flattest part of the country, it still blows my mind every day when I look at the mountains!
Therapeutic Approach:
My integrative approach includes CBT, DBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based therapy, relaxation training, and solution-focused therapies. I am trained and certified at the Master level in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), a treatment shown to provide rapid benefits (usually within 1-5 sessions) for trauma and other mental health problems. I have recently trained in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) through the Psychedelic Research and Training Institute (PRATI) and am now able to offer this transformational therapy to my clients.
I work to provide each client not only with empathetic listening, but also with concrete skills and tools that they can use in their daily life. These skills may include mindfulness skills, emotion regulation skills, distress tolerance skills, interpersonal effectiveness skills, or skills for self care and relaxation. My training in ART allows for deeper healing by accessing parts of the psyche and brain that talk therapy cannot reach.
What Sessions Will Be Like:
Our first few sessions include a lot of information gathering as well as building a relationship. It's my opportunity to begin to understand you and your unique history, as well as an opportunity for you to get to know me. Therapy sessions are your opportunity to take the space to process what is important to you, what is troubling you, and what is coming up in your life. Along the way, I will offer feedback and perspective on patterns and themes as well as suggestions for tools that may be useful to you. I believe it's important for you to feel listened to and validated. I also believe in each person's intrinsic strength, so I'm not afraid to challenge my clients as needed. Last, but not least, therapy can also be fun and we will most likely find time for playfulness and laughter.
I enjoy working with a variety of issues. Topics often discussed in therapy include depression, anxiety, relationship issues, family issues, postpartum depression, parenting issues, stage of life/transition issues, trauma, grief and loss, self-esteem, and work/life balance, to name a few. Therapy is also a safe and welcoming place to work to increase overall happiness and explore ways of living your life in accordance with your values.
