The area I have found the most rewarding to work in is with trauma and addictions. I love helping clients explore how they were shaped and molded by their environment, the strengths and challenges that environment created. Helping that client move through their challenges and own their truths and is something I am passionate about. Witnessing a client finally come to the realization that they can live a life free from the baggage they have been carrying around for most of their lives is something that drives me in this work. The courage it takes for clients to walk into my office and face the things that have been most tormenting continually amazes and humbles me.
I have worked since 2009 in residential treatment facilities for adults struggling with addiction and mood disorders. Clients of mine have been known to say that I challenge them directly, but in a way that lets them know that I respect and care for them, as well as believe in their ability to heal. I am a firm believer that people are not defined by their actions, rather that their actions let you gain insight into the wounding from the past. One goal I would encourage my clients to consider would be to come to the realization that their past does not have to define their present and should not write their future.
I am a Level II EMDR practitioner, a Comprehensive Resource Model therapist, have advanced training in Brainspotting with an emphasis in attachment and disassociation, and am a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist. I graduated from the University of Tennessee's College of Social Work. Prior to this, I was the Vice President of a publishing company where I was in charge of the circulation department, making this a second career for me and the one I believe I was always supposed to do.