A brief update: Hello! I just want to provide an update since first setting up this blog so many years ago. I no longer have a practice in Friday Harbor - I exclusively work online and in-person on Orcas Island. I have completed Level II Training in Sensory-Motor Psychotherapy with Janina Fisher and integrate many body-focused approaches in my practice. I am a Neurodivergence Affirming Therapist and work with folk of all genders and forms of Queer.
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Welcome!
About me. . . .I am a Licensed, Clinical Social Worker with counseling offices on Orcas and San Juan Islands. I work with individuals (adults, children, teens) and families (couples & more).
I am proud to claim social work as my profession. I differentiate it from other counseling professions (psychology, marriage & family counseling, psychotherapy) by social work's commitment to social justice. Part of my education and my nature is to recognize the role that oppression and discrimination play in the human experience, and to address it with my clients and the systems that effect them.
Over the years, my clients have taken me on many personal journeys which deepened my sense of both the challenge and promise of human experience. A majority of my clinical experience has been with individuals and families experiencing trauma - sexual abuse, child abuse, refugee experiences, war and natural disasters have led clients to my offices. While much of the professional literature and popular media focus on the debilitating results of these experiences, my work has revealed to me the exquisite resilience and strength of the human spirit to move through trauma towards healing and joy. It is humbling and sacred to bear witness to people's growth, and I am grateful to all of those who have joined with me in their journeys of healing.
My graduate school specialization was in Child and Family Systems, and I was most impacted by the family therapy practices of Virginia Satir. I have since been blessed to be trained by Christine Courtois and Besser Van der Kolk in trauma theory, and by Dan Seigel in the complex blending of neurobiology, attachment, and trauma theories. I have recently gained skills in EMDR and somatic approaches to trauma recovery.* My most profound teachers, however, have been my clients.
While some of us survive catastrophic traumas, most of us survive smaller and chronic traumas associated with normal living. All of us carry emotional woundings and cultural perceptions that shape our self concepts and life choices in ways that block us from potential contentment and joy. Though we often hesitate to acknowledge these small traumas and woundings, fearing self-absorption and whining, they can be severely limiting. My work often involves clients giving themselves permission to pay attention to what hurts them, understanding it, and moving towards greater emotional freedom. Greater emotional freedom means greater openness and ease in relationships, and greater joy in life.
Contact me for consultation: 360-376-7119
*EMDR is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reintegration, a process which involves movement of the eyes during discussion of traumatic memory. The process involves bilateral engagement of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which allows for shifts in our beliefs and perceptions, potentially freeing us from rigid and limiting self-concepts tied to traumatic events. Somatic work involves locating where and how we hold traumatic memory in our bodies, and releasing them through breath, imagery and movement. Both practices can stimulate emotional healing with less engagement of cognitive processes. Often, clients in therapy gain deep intellectual understanding of why they are stuck in limiting emotional and behavioral patterns, but still feel powerless to change them. Body-focused work can help to make that leap.
I am proud to claim social work as my profession. I differentiate it from other counseling professions (psychology, marriage & family counseling, psychotherapy) by social work's commitment to social justice. Part of my education and my nature is to recognize the role that oppression and discrimination play in the human experience, and to address it with my clients and the systems that effect them.
Over the years, my clients have taken me on many personal journeys which deepened my sense of both the challenge and promise of human experience. A majority of my clinical experience has been with individuals and families experiencing trauma - sexual abuse, child abuse, refugee experiences, war and natural disasters have led clients to my offices. While much of the professional literature and popular media focus on the debilitating results of these experiences, my work has revealed to me the exquisite resilience and strength of the human spirit to move through trauma towards healing and joy. It is humbling and sacred to bear witness to people's growth, and I am grateful to all of those who have joined with me in their journeys of healing.
My graduate school specialization was in Child and Family Systems, and I was most impacted by the family therapy practices of Virginia Satir. I have since been blessed to be trained by Christine Courtois and Besser Van der Kolk in trauma theory, and by Dan Seigel in the complex blending of neurobiology, attachment, and trauma theories. I have recently gained skills in EMDR and somatic approaches to trauma recovery.* My most profound teachers, however, have been my clients.
While some of us survive catastrophic traumas, most of us survive smaller and chronic traumas associated with normal living. All of us carry emotional woundings and cultural perceptions that shape our self concepts and life choices in ways that block us from potential contentment and joy. Though we often hesitate to acknowledge these small traumas and woundings, fearing self-absorption and whining, they can be severely limiting. My work often involves clients giving themselves permission to pay attention to what hurts them, understanding it, and moving towards greater emotional freedom. Greater emotional freedom means greater openness and ease in relationships, and greater joy in life.
Contact me for consultation: 360-376-7119
*EMDR is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reintegration, a process which involves movement of the eyes during discussion of traumatic memory. The process involves bilateral engagement of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which allows for shifts in our beliefs and perceptions, potentially freeing us from rigid and limiting self-concepts tied to traumatic events. Somatic work involves locating where and how we hold traumatic memory in our bodies, and releasing them through breath, imagery and movement. Both practices can stimulate emotional healing with less engagement of cognitive processes. Often, clients in therapy gain deep intellectual understanding of why they are stuck in limiting emotional and behavioral patterns, but still feel powerless to change them. Body-focused work can help to make that leap.
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