MY PERSONAL STORY

My interest in psychotherapy began when I was a child, as I grew up in a family affected by many issues that can create challenges to optimal mental health, such as divorce, economic difficulties, anger management problems, poor communication skills, etc.  By the time I was an adolescent I was clear that I wanted my life to change dramatically. Since I couldn’t get what I needed in my family, I began treatment in a local mental health center, where I learned how to be more assertive and how to communicate more effectively with the people around me. I learned that, even though I was just a kid, I didn’t need to be a victim; I could make changes within myself to become more empowered, and that would change my relationship with the rest of the world. My study of psychology began with my personal experience.

I went off to college intent on retaining and expanding my new sense of empowerment. To that end I began to study yoga and meditation in earnest, in addition to my classes.  After two years of studying psychology in college, I felt like the academic life wasn’t giving me all that I needed, and I moved into a spiritual community, to expand the study of yoga and meditation that I had begun on my own.  In addition I traveled extensively throughout the US, Europe, and India, to spend time at other spiritual communities. I lived and studied the traditional Asian psychological techniques of yoga and meditation for six years. For the last two years I was living in the spiritual community while I was at school at Naropa Institute in Boulder, studying Eastern and Western psychology. Ultimately, after six years of living a secluded life away from most of society, I realized that it was time to return to the larger community and share the techniques of creating spiritual and psychological peace to people in all walks of life who desperately need to learn them.

I returned to Denver, completed my undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Colorado at Denver, and was blessed to meet my husband and partner Allen. Together we studied with teacher and author Sondra Ray and her Loving Relationships Training program (LRT). This program taught about healing past trauma through breath therapy and expounded the science of creating healthy relationships. The LRT began my interest in mastering relationship technology. I trained with them, became certified as a breath therapist and counselor, and practiced for several years using their methods. The relationship skills I learned have allowed Allen and me to create the supportive family that is the center of our lives.

When Allen and I had our first child I chose to stay at home and be both a mom and a psychological researcher, studying, through immersion, family psychotherapy, early childhood development, sibling rivalry, behavior modification, and conflict resolution. I also volunteered for La Leche League as Professional Liaison, interfacing between mothers in Colorado and Wyoming and the medical and legal communities, and as Human Resource Educator, teaching communication skills to league leaders and members throughout Colorado.

In 1992 I was hit head-on by a drunk driver at sixty miles per hour, and my life changed dramatically. I was forced to work through significant levels of pain and trauma associated with my multiple injuries, and to learn to find meaning, and even gifts, in this horrendous experience. Ultimately, this crash enabled me to see my entire life with a different and more healing perspective, and to actually heal old hurts as well as the new ones. I continue to be reminded of the need to accept what can’t be changed, which is a great lesson.

My children grew up, and I decided it was time to resume my formal training. I wanted to empower others with the principles of life and relationship mastery, so I obtained my masters degree in counseling from the University of Northern Colorado. That program included an internship, which was divided between a local mental health center where I counseled adults with complex mental illnesses, and a DPS elementary school, where I served as the school counselor. Seeking further skills, I traveled to Los Angeles, California to become trained in NET, an absolutely amazing technique for psycho-emotional transformation, and a great way to demonstrate the truth of the LRT relationship technology and implement its principles and practices in your life. I am currently continuing my education at the Inner Connection Institute in Denver. I have been in private practice of counseling and psychotherapy since 2000.

My personal experience combined with my professional training have led me to a passion about working with both children and adults to help transform what appear to be problems in their lives into incredible healing opportunities. I believe that when we are willing to see the larger picture, life challenges can be experienced as heroic journeys that empower rather than victimize. With the powerful techniques I use, such as NET, Sandplay therapy for children, and meditational healing, I feel fortunate to witness miracles of healing every day in my practice. I invite you to explore these dynamic options as we work together toward personal growth.