I acquired a disability as a young adult and recognized the intense grief that can come with the amount of loss that that experience brought. It also opened my eyes to the type of grief that unexpected life transitions can bring, which is grief over the life you thought you would get to live.

From there, I combined that experience with my own experience growing up as a queer person in a conservative area and worked to create a justice-focused, harm-reduction style of counseling. I want counseling to be a place where you can have you vulnerability and needs truly honored and accepted, and where you do not have to "mask" or hide parts of yourself to feel accepted by your counselor.

I do my best work with clients who have been adultified from a young age, those who from the outside look like overachievers but are struggling behind the scenes to hold everything together. Those who are so used to making sure that everyone else if fed that they don't realize their own plate is emoty before it's too late. I work well with clients who are exploring their identity outside of how others see them, but from how they truly feel inside.

I wish all clients knew that the therapy journey is truly about them, not the therapist. Yes, as a therapist I am here to help and facilitate the process, but I am not the one who should be benefitting most. You do not need to hide the "undesirable" parts of yourself in our sessions, instead show up exactly as you are. All of you is welcome.

In the first session, we will go through a zoomed-out overview of you and your life, your history, your support system, your hobbies, etc. Then in the early stages we will explore and get a feel for what you want to get out this process, and start working on some skills to help you lay a foundation of support and self-reflection so that you will be able to build the habits that will allow you to later see changes in your life.

One of my top values as a therapist is your autonomy - I firmly believe that this is your own therapy and I want you to feel that you are here for you, and not me. I carry compassion and humility within myself, so that my work is focused on helping you meet your own goals in a warm and accepting space.

I tailor therapy to meet a client's unique needs starting in the first session. In learning about your hopes for therapy, I will also check in with you regularly to see if you are wanting a space to do a lot of your own processing, if you want someone to bounce thoughts with back-and-forth, or if you are looking for a more skills-based approach where I bring in more skills work to do together in session. Whatever pace you need for your therapy, we can collaborate on it together, throughout the process.