I was as a nurse for 20 years, before I became a therapist. I saw up close the connection between mental and physical health, and how we all long to be seen, supported and understood in our suffering, and in the things that make us come alive. I listened to countless stories--seeing people's strength and the quiet strain beneath all they are carrying. I realized how our wellbeing is dependent on being healthy on many levels-not just our physical bodies. So I went back to school to learn how to help people in new ways.

As a young mom, I went on a mission trip to Africa where I witnessed a deep reliance on faith and community that stuck with me. Women and children were in hard situations, but they weren't carrying their lives alone-they were relying heavily on their faith and each other in ways our busy culture rarely makes room for. It reminded me that we are meant to be supported, not stretched to our breaking point and holding it together on our own. Later, serving on a Walk to Emmaus team, I felt that truth again. Healing often begins with someone walking beside you-steady, present, unhurried.

These experience continue to shape the way I show up the therapy room today, a compassionate presence that holds space for what’s true in you to rise again. Like many of the people I work with, I felt something shifting in me too. A deep calling to support people in a new way, rooted in the belief that our health and wellbeing is connected on many layers-mind, body and soul, and no one is meant to carry life alone.