Practice update

I am in solo private practice in downtown Enumclaw, Washington.  Currently I am not seeing clients in-person during the Covid-19 pandemic but do offer telemental health counseling. Stay home, stay safe and see me virtually.

Counseling is my passion and my calling.  I really love what I do.  Being a therapist has enriched my life through helping and learning alongside the great people I have come to know over the years.   

I am a Nationally Certified Counselor, Washington State Licensed Mental Health Counselor, member of the American Counseling Association and a member of the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association. My practice serves the Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Ravensdale, Enumclaw, Bonney Lake, Covington and surrounding areas.  Telemental health is available for those who reside in Washington State. 

 Not all counselors are alike.  We each bring our unique collection of education, experiences and personality into our offices.  I think my approach is best described as collaborative, educational and emapathetic.  Despite the seriousness of what brings people in to see me, I try to bring some levity and smiles into our time together.  I love education and spend time keeping my professional education current. My hope is to pass along any knowledge I have that may help you.   

 Individual, group, couples and family counseling services are available. I am able to offer some testing services so let me know if you'd like to discuss this.  I enjoy conducting workshops and presentations as well.  Additionally, I am an "Approved Supervisor" for Licensed Mental Health Counselors in Washington State.

I work with children, adolescents and adults.  When working with children under 13, I typically work with parents as well so the good work can continue in the home.  Issues I help people with range from mild to moderate stressors to serious emotional and mental health disturbances.  

One focus area of my practice is grief counseling and complicated grief.  If you believe your grief isn't subsiding or the grief you are experiencing is in relation to a serious trauma, please give me a call so we can determine if you are dealing with complicated grief.  

I also work with depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders, relationships, pre-marital counseling, divorce and blended family matters, parenting skills, behavioral concerns, attachment, child loss, post-adoption adjustment and bonding, and life transitions.  I have experience working with children in the foster care system as well as post-adoption placements.  Clients have included individuals, couples, groups and families in a variety of settings including school, office, home, inpatient hospital and in the community.  

Graduating with my Master's Degree in Counseling in 1994, I have over 26 years of experience and training in cognitive-behavioral interventions, group therapy, grief work and more.  I've worked in agency, school, hospital and private practice settings. I received 3 years of post-graduate education for ecosystemic structural family therapy from Philadlephia Child Guidance (now known as the Philadelphia Child and Family Training Center) and am a "second generation Minuchin counselor."  Additionally, I obtained post-grauate training in Complicated Grief Therapy at Columbia University's Center for Complicated Grief in New York City.  I am a Distance Credentialed Counselor and able to provide telemental health services to individuals who reside in the state of Washington and provisionally with some other states.

I am availble for presentations on topics related to relationships, parenting, mental health topics, grief and loss. Most recently, I have been a repeat presenter at Camp Widow - San Diego as well as the Seabeck Grief Retreat sponsored by King County Widowed Information and Consultation Services and The Compassionate Friends.  In the past, I offered a free grief workshop series for seniors entitled "Good Grief."  

     Born and raised in Northwest Pennsylvania, I have fond childhood memories of magical winters spent playing in massive snow drifts courtesy of "lake effect snow."  On these days, the ploughs could not keep up with the foot-plus accumulation and roads were unsafe for school buses.  Snow days were savored imbibing copious amounts of hot chocolate, doffing soaking wet scarves and mittens after hours of snowball fights, building snow forts, and warming up rosy red cheeks and frozen toes.  It took about an hour to defrost in front of the crackling flames of a comforting fireplace.  Summers were spent playing in the fresh waters of Lake Erie, competing in friendly stone skipping contests, fishing for perch and walleye, designing sandcastles, running around the neighborhood playing hide-and-seek with no fences, and capturing fireflies just after sunset.  Born into a large family, I must borrow others' fingers and toes to count all the nieces, nephews, greats, cousins.... there are A LOT of us and I can't imagine it any other way.

      I was fortunate to marry my soul mate and relocated to the East Bay of San Francisco.  Palm trees at Christmas took some adjusting to, but St. Patrick's Day parades in sandals did not.  We were active in our church and I was a multi-troop Girl Scout leader.   Four daughters and many pets filled the house with lots of love and laughter. I honestly woke up every day feeling completely blessed.  Life had come into full bloom and it could not get much better...until he unexpectedly passed away, way too young.

      ... As part of our healing, the kids and I relocated to the Pacific Northwest.  It reminds me so much of Pennsylvania, here, only greener, with larger wildlife, more moss and bigger water.  Being around this grand nature has been restorative for our family.  Basking in the shadow of Mount Rainier (when she's not playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds), hiking among the ferns, playing in the tidepools and visiting the orcas....  Washington was certainly where we needed to be.  It feels like home and we've adjusted to a new life.

     I mom.  I travel.  I photograph and play with video production.  I write.  We live with dogs.  Humor keeps me afloat. Quilting beckons. Reading, too. I love designing my gardens, just do not care for the weeding. Life without a lap pool is not really living. Hawaii, the Olympic Peninsula, Orcas Islands - those are my favorite playgrounds. I suffer from wanderlust and cabin fever; despite living in the PacNW, I try to "gather no moss" outside of my garden. Gearing up to take my sabbatical down under.  Life is a gift that I want to do right by. My mantra and request for humanity is to simply "live love."

This is me, age 7, trying to lure a grey squirrel for a close-up in Washington, D.C.  I had my first camera and had to take a picture of EVERYTHING!

Rivers run through Washington.  Green River

Sunset overlooking the coastline in Bandon, Oregon

Oregon coast west of Tillamook

Oregon coast

Olympic Penninsula 

Hawaiian sunset

Swimming and boarding with turtles in Hawaii

Ocean Shores, Washington

Palm trees swaying the breezes of Hawaii

Hawaii

Fresh flowers at Pike Place Market in Seattle

Holly in Washington 

Tidepool near Newport, Oregon

Northern Oregon coast

Forest near my home in Washington

View of Mount Rainier from Rt. 169 South

San Juan Islands

J-Pod cruising in the San Juan Islands

Turnagain Arm, Alaska

Whittier Glacier, Alaska

Oregon tidepool

Feral moa in parking lot in Hawaii

Wild dill in Washington

Lenticular clouds drifting from the peak of Mount Rainier as viewed from Enumclaw

Cliff diving vantage point in Hawaii (no we didn't...)

Palms growing out of the side of the single lane road on the cliffs on Kahekili Highway in Maui, Hawaii. 

Yes, we drove the one lane road.  We thought we were going to die.  By the grace of God, we didn't.

Yes, I can now accomplish anything.

Little bit of Heaven