“The best way out is through.”
- Robert Frost
As a licensed therapist, mental health educator, and mindfulness facilitator I am passionately committed to destigmatizing mental health, cultivating compassion, and normalizing the challenges that come with being human.
I provide in person and virtual therapy for adults, couples, and teens (16 and older) in and around the La Grange area who are ready to heal, grow, and build a life with more confidence, authenticity, and emotional balance. Offering client-focused therapy, I use different approaches that emphasize the personal meanings we create. By enhancing our self-relationship and examining our individual narratives, we can unlock our true potential, achieve healing, and discover fulfillment.
15% Off All Items
.jpg)
The Root of My Passion
Like many of us life is navigated through experiential learning. I was never one to just take, ‘don’t make the same mistakes we did’ advice. Insistent on trial and erroring everything myself I have made some bonehead decisions, stumbled through mishaps, and suffered in both friendship and romance along the way.​​
From a young age, life shaped me in pretty profound ways. ​
​
I survived a fatal car accidence that took my friends life, leaving me with significant facial scarring, partial blindness, and a brain injury. Hearing others say I was “lucky” to survive was something that always felt conflictual to me. Throughout my teen and young adult years I spent much of my time avoiding, numbing, and reacting. I didn’t have or know how to have healthy relationships. I didn’t know how to cope with the storms I was feeling. I only knew the pain I felt and became very good at finding quick, efficient ways not to think about that.
I tell this story because of how it shaped me, and how it continues to shape my values in practice.
​
In my late 20's, I found myself divorced from an unhealthy marriage and navigating life as a single-parent. I was called to find another way - to find myself and to heal. Every day I made a commitment to take one step forward.
​
What followed was a slow, often challenging, but deeply transformative journey. Through self-exploration, I began to reconnect with who I really was.
​
Yoga, meditation, mindfulness practices, retreats, nature, journaling, and community helped me come home to myself. I climbed mountains, literally and figuratively, to slowly find myself. While I learned a great deal about myself, I also had to face many things that were painful - all of which were necessary for healing and growth.
Bringing My Passion To The Therapy Space
My lived experience informs the way I show up as a therapist: with humility, compassion, and a deep respect for the complexities of healing.
​
Healing isn’t linear, and real change doesn’t come from quick fixes—it comes from learning to sit with yourself, to listen inward, and to respond with care. These values form the foundation of my work with clients. I strive to create a space where you feel safe to explore, fall apart, and rebuild—at your own pace, in your own way.
​​
I’m here to remind you that while change is hard, it is absolutely possible.
I am here to support you as you face what feels scary, overwhelming, or unknown.
I am here to encourage you, reminding you of your agency to create your own path.
I am here to hold space while we process your wounds, regrets, guilt, and losses.
I am here to teach you skills and tools to help you cope and navigate these waters.
I am here to challenge you compassionately and gently nudge you when you feel stuck.
My Approach
​As a therapist, I’ve explored a range of therapeutic approaches and methodologies through education and professional development. As with most things in life, I’ve found that the most meaningful and effective aspects of my work were guided by my values – shaped by lived experiences, personal growth, and finding connection in nature.
My therapeutic approach is a blend of insight and self-awareness, befriending yourself with self compassion while building practical skills for personal growth.
Together, we'll explore mindfulness-based tools to cultivate presence, replace deconstructive habits, and support you in living more intentionally and authentically. Understanding the mind/body connection will provide insights to your lived experiences paving a way for healing. As we explore your “inner voice” with compassion, you'll be supported in developing a daily practice of “listening inward” - nurturing a deeper sense of clarity and understanding of self. My approach uses a combination of evidence-based practices with a grounded, intuitive understanding of human resilience and complexity. Healing and growth do not occur only from "techniques", but from the quality of connection in the therapeutic relationship and our inner wisdom.
​
What I love most about my work are the humbling and persistent reminders that we are never alone in our struggles. While our stories may be different, there is profound connection in our shared humanity.
Clinical Background
-
Who Is eligible?Any person with a physical, mental, or emotional disability in which it is difficult to perform or limits an important life activity (that another person can easily perform). The life activity may only be a problem during certain times. Under the ADA, an individual with a disability is a person who: Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; Has a record of such an impairment; or Is regarded as having such an impairment. ​There are no limitations with respect to the kinds of impairments/disabilities this applies to.
-
Service AnimalsService animals are dogs trained to perform major life tasks to assist people with physical or psychiatric impairments/disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
-
Emotional Support AnimalsAn emotional support animal (ESA) is a person’s pet that has been prescribed by a person’s licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist (any licensed mental health professional). The animal is part of the treatment program for this person and is designed to bring comfort and minimize the negative symptoms of the person’s emotional/psychological disability. All domesticated animals may qualify as an ESA (cats, dog, mice, rabbits, birds, snakes, hedgehogs, rats, mini pigs, ferrets, etc). These animals do not need any specific task-training because their very presence mitigates the symptoms associated with a person’s psychological/emotional disability, unlike a working service dog. The only requirement is that the animal is manageable in public and does not create a nuisance in or around the home setting.
-
What Do I Need?Service Animal: It isn’t necessary to possess a letter from a physician that states you are disabled and require a trained service dog, BUT if someone legally challenges a person claiming to be disabled, proof of the disability will be necessary at that point. What you must be prepared to do when in public is confirm you are disabled and provide credible verbal evidence of what your service dog is trained to do. Emotional Support Animal: For a person to legally qualify for an emotional support animal (ESA), he/she must be considered emotionally disabled by a licensed mental health professional (therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, etc.), as evidenced by a properly formatted prescription letter.