I work primarily with teens and young adults who are navigating things like scary mental health diagnoses, substance use, trauma, difficult childhoods, and family or trust issues. Many of my clients are coming to therapy for the first time and aren’t sure what to expect or how they’ll feel safe enough to open up. With my casual, raw, and personable approach – I often help people lower their guard pretty quickly.

Between my work in a crisis stabilization hospital and navigating my own mental health diagnosis and therapy journey, there’s nothing you could tell me that would surprise me or make me think less of you. I take that trust personally  and work hard  to create a space where you don’t have to filter, perform, or minimize what you’re carrying or how you talk about it.

I believe a diagnosis isn’t a label—it’s a roadmap that helps us understand your environment and figure out how to move through it. I don’t see substance use as a moral failure or a simple choice; there’s often a good reason to use, and our work is to understand and heal the part of you that needs it. And when it comes to trauma, I’m less interested in what’s “wrong” with you and more focused on what’s happened to you.

Much of my work is helping clients make sense of what’s happening and figure out what’s next in their journey. You are always the expert in the room and my role is to ask really good questions to support that process by building trust, asking thoughtful questions, and helping you find more peace and clarity in your situation.

My path to this work has been shaped by lived experience, including my own mental health diagnosis, growing up in a family impacted by addiction, loving many people carrying trauma, and learning firsthand how deeply these experiences can shape daily life. I’ve lived in multiple states, worked across diverse communities, and been guided by mentors and supervisors from many backgrounds—all of which has helped me listen more carefully and hold a wider perspective.

I don’t come into the room as the expert on you; I come in as a real person who respects your story and believes that being honest, vulnerable, and understood is where meaningful change begins.