About Me
My professional and personal experience, which informs the work that I do
01
My professional experience
I’ve done a lot of different work to support families including working as a preschool teacher (in Ohio and Oregon), a school-age site director (for the YMCA), a family case manager (at a shelter for women and children escaping domestic violence), a parent educator (for the Oregon State Extension Services), and as a clinical counselor (at a community mental health agency and in my own private practice). I was also an adjunct instructor for the Ohio State University’s Child and Family Studies Department teaching undergrads about family stress and resilience.
02
My education
My graduate degree is in Sociology and my masters is in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I also have post-graduate certification in Infant-Toddler Mental Health, (which is all about how child mental health and parental mental health are inextricably combined). I completed the certification training for postpartum mood disorders through Postpartum Support International and I have extensive continuing education on child and teen anxiety, including completing the SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) program, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure Response Prevention for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
03
Some other cool stuff I’ve done
I have written about parenting, families, and adoption for many outlets including Salon.com, Utne, Ode, Brain Child, Parenting, Yoga Journal, Adoptive Families, Commonsense Media, and Greater Good. I was interviewed for New Hampshire Public Radio’s Word of Mouth, Q with Jian Ghomeshi, PsychCentral, and I consulted on a This American Life episode about open adoption. I was also featured on a story for ABC’s Nightline and Good Morning America.
05
I was an anxious kid
See that bike there? It took me a very very very very long time to take off those training wheels. It didn’t matter how encouraging my parents were; in fact, encouragement made things worse. (When my son was born, he was the exact same way.) My kindergarten teacher told me that I was a worry wart, which naturally worried me. Therapy in my late teens helped so much! And my coping improved but then I had my own kids.
06
I was also an anxious parent
Not surprising, right? It’s like I always say — parenting is the most triggering work you will ever do. My son is a lot like me — introverted, demand avoidant, a tendency to be negative. Working through his avoidance taught me how to work through my own. And my daughter? Cheerful, people-pleasing, a full blown ADHD diagnosis, and anxiety through the roof. My lived experience and my professional background make me a powerhouse anxiety warrior. Seriously.
07
Now I’m here for you
When we work together this is what you get:
• Someone who is going to LISTEN to you when you tell me what’s worked, what hasn’t worked, what scares you, and what gives you hope.
• Someone who is going to give you actual tools and things to try and then help you dig in and refine them based on your and your child’s needs.
• Someone who is staying up to date on the research, rummaging through all the books, attending the latest up-to-date trainings and bringing all that info back to you.
Together we build on your greatest asset — your loving relationship with your anxious child — to help and heal your family.
