About Me
Over the past 40 years I have been blessed to learn from some of the greatest minds in the fields of nursing, therapy, yoga and faith. Each has played an important role in my development as a therapist, consultant and facilitator.
I believe the most important work we can do together is journey to the places we cannot go alone - the places we feel stuck, lost or disconnected. Because those are the places greatest transformation can occur.
As a therapist, consultant and facilitator, I am gentle yet firm, respectful yet direct, intense yet humorous and while I have expertise in my field, I strongly believe you are the expert in your own world. Together we will journey from the stuck, lost and disconnected to a place where the ‘there and then’ has less influence in the ‘here and now’.
Credentials
I received my Masters Degree from the University of Texas at El Paso specializing in Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in 1986 and received my PhD in Family Psychology in 2004 from Capella University. I have been an Advance Practice Clinical Nurse Specialist in Psychiatric Nursing since 2000 and have been in private practice since 2007. As of July 2021, the Commonwealth of Virginia approved my application to practice as Licensed Nurse Practitioner.
I am member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, the International Association of Yoga Therapists, Mid-Atlantic Imago Therapist (MAIT), the Virginia Association of Clinical Nurse Specialist and The Critical Incident Stress Foundations.
Besides my nursing credentials my certifications include Coherence Therapy, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, LifeForce Yoga®, Imago therapy, Hypnotherapy/Eye Movement Integration, and Emotion Focused Individual Therapy. In 2011, I was invited to join a select group of international therapists to study with Hedy Schleifer in a three-year training program on Encounter-centered Couple’s Therapy. I received certification in 2014.
I am certified Grief Therapy Meaning Reconstruction and am pursuing certification in Art Assisted Grief Therapy at the Portland Institute for Grief and Transition.
As I believe in being a life-long learning, in 2025 I completed the training to become a Discernment Counselor. This is an exciting new short-term, just 1-5 sessions, for couples where one spouse is leaning towards divorce and the other wants to preserve the marriage. Couples like this do not do well in traditional couple’s therapy and need specialized assistance.
Ruadhan
Can’t forget about my assistance
Ruadhan (Rowan) joined the practice seven years ago in the role of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Service Dog.
He finished his training in 2014 and serves faithfully in our office.
A Few of my Certifications
