it's Nice to meet you
I was born as the oldest of 3 girls in Mississippi, the daughter of a librarian and a psychologist. I spent my entire childhood assuring everyone that I was not going to be following in dad's footsteps. That was the first time I learned that life doesn't always go the way you plan. At 13, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and began to wrestle for the first time with grief and loss. It also grew me up at a much faster rate than I would have not preferred, but gave me such a heart for people dealing with things in life that make us wonder, "how am I going to do this?" or "this is not how I planned my life to go" and learning that we have inside of us everything we need (even when we don't believe it).
I went to college at TCU and was a Journalism major. It didn't take me long post college to know that the only thing I loved about journalism (aside from the hope that I would one day end up on the sidelines reporting from every football game) was knowing and learning people's stories. After a year long Fellows Program experience in Memphis, I soon got to Nashville and came face to face with the reality that this is what I was created to do. I wanted to walk intimately with people through life and help them know who they are and what they are capable of.
“My goal is to give my clients someone to walk through the pain with, so that they can create room for the joy that will follow.”
I started graduate school at Trevecca Nazarene University in 2011 and graduated with my masters in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2013. I officially became licensed in December 2016, license #1247.
In thinking through a way to "explain me" and who I am as a therapist, the lyrics to the Lumineer's song, "Stubborn Love" comes to my mind. It says, "it is better to feel pain than nothing at all." My work with my clients looks a lot like providing them with someone to walk through the pain with so that they can create room for the joy that will follow when we can grieve and know the depth to which our emotions can take us.
I enjoy working with clients of all ages and places in life. I spend a lot of my time with adolescents and young adults who are struggling to find their place as they transition in different ways away from their families and into adulthood. I love working with people as they start to answer the question, "who am I outside of my family and who do I want to be in this world on my own."
I am now a wife and a mom and that has continued to broaden my life and my work. Life is hard, but it was created to live in community and with people. I would be honored to step into that community and answer any questions you may have about me, my work, or my approach to therapy.
I look forward to knowing you and your story.
““If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.” ”