I am a licensed professional counselor in Virginia who earned my master’s degree in Professional Counseling at Liberty University in 2019 and am currently completing my Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision there. My background is in teaching and English literature. I taught middle school and high school in the Chicago area, which is where I am from, and moved to the Lynchburg area in 2012 as part of a major life transition. 

Since then, along with earning my counseling degree, I cofounded a school for homeschooling families, Onward Christian Academy, where I taught many classes and fulfilled numerous roles, including the role of middle school and high school counselor. One important part of teaching for me was caring about people-building and making sure the students were personally supported and encouraged. 

While I am a Christian and attribute my desire to help others to experience the love that God has placed in my heart, I feel comfortable incorporating spirituality or not depending on the client’s wishes. While I am still expanding my areas of expertise, I have experience working with addictions, trauma, anxiety, depression, sexual orientation or confusion, life transitions, divorce, remarriage, self-discovery, personal identity building, struggles with self-worth, and equine assisted therapy. I enjoy incorporating art into therapy, and I love working with children. I believe that everyone just wants to be seen, heard, valued, and understood, and I try to provide a safe and caring place for people from all walks of life regardless of personal struggle, sexual orientation, or mental health disorder, and I look forward to continuing to provide that space of nonjudgmental care for anyone who I have the honor of walking through life with in this capacity.

Once I complete my Ph.D., which has been an incredibly challenging yet rewarding journey, I hope to have the opportunity to teach other counselors in training and to supervise other counselors. I also plan on continuing my research on equine assisted services and finding more ways to practically incorporate these services more into the mental health field. Since starting volunteering with equine assisted therapy with Veterans a couple of years ago, my passion has grown for the power of working with horses and humans and the evidence of their healing connections, which is why I am completing my dissertation on that topic. I look forward to seeing what doors God will open and all that he will do in and through me as I earn my degree.