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About Me

I spent the first 19 years of my life in a religious Mormon household at the northern edge of Seattle. The youngest of six children, I share my birthday, and many interests, with an identical twin brother, who also gravitated to the counseling profession. Growing up gay and Mormon, I struggled to find my place in the world and reconcile my faith, eventually finding my own spirituality away from the Mormon church. One of my current specialties in counseling is helping clients through similar crises of faith, with or without the added complexity of sexual orientation and gender identity. I have found that no one is immune from feeling like an outsider, and I find great fulfillment in helping navigate the path to ones own authentic self.

In my late teens I had the enlightening opportunity to experience a new culture in the form of a two year religious mission to Paraguay. It was in that South American nation, working with individuals and families, often in very humble living conditions, that I found my interest in social work and counseling. Upon returning to the States at 21, I attended Brigham Young University, later transferring to the University of Utah in Salt Lake. There, I earned my Bachelors degree in Spanish, then my Masters in Social Work from the same university. 

 

Since beginning my counseling career in 2005, I have practiced in the Boise area, working as a mental health clinician at a number of community mental health centers. I also worked as a Designated Examiner, appointed to assist in mental health crisis intervention. With the experience garnered from those diverse clinical opportunities, I ventured out on my own in 2014, starting my own counseling clinic, where I continue to maintain a full clinic of diverse clientele. I work with teens, adults, and couples, and have facilitated groups as well, including an LGBTQ group focusing on issues of relationships and coming out.

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When I am not in my office, I enjoy exploring the natural beauty of Idaho, tending to my Mediterranean-style backyard garden, and hiking with my dogs. I also love travel and using my Spanish language skills (which I also utilize in counseling).

 

I consider it a huge honor to hold space for clients who, like myself, have struggled to find a voice, helping them recognize their unique strengths and resilience. I have seen that this resilience is often a result of, not despite, the adversities and demons of the past.

My Role As Your Therapist 
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At our core, we are all resilient and whole. It is the difficult experiences and traumas of our lives that often cloud our vision of ourselves as healthy individuals, allowing self-doubt to creep in. As I have evolved as a therapist, I have come to understand the multiple roles I play in the process of helping clients realize and rediscover their true natures. Therapy creates a safe, affirming and confidential container in which clients can feel genuinely understood and discover facets of themselves to explore. I accomplish this through active, empathetic listening and reframing, with some challenging and questioning.

 

Beyond creating a comfortable space for my clients, I see some of my role as that of a guide, a mirror, and a canvas. First, as a guide, I assist clients in finding a clearer vision of who they are. This can be done through teaching adaptive skills and psychoeducation along with sharing of my own journey when helpful. As a mirror, I help reflect a compassionate yet objective view of a client’s identity, including viewing the emotional blocks and self-defeating beliefs that have held them captive or caused unnecessary pain. I also view myself as a canvas on which a client’s projections can be viewed and examined through noticing transference. An example of this might be a seeing me as their father or uncle. This process could look like:

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  • Initial client transference: "You (therapist) are my father."

  • Then: "You are my therapist, and I have pieces of my father in me that I am not comfortable with."

  • Arrive at: "I can own, befriend and make meaning out of these parts of you that remind me of my father."

 

Research has shown that it is largely the client-therapist relationship that truly makes the difference in therapeutic success. Although I do utilize many best-practice modalities, clients have told me that they feel comfortable and understood during the first session, which I believe sets the foundation for the therapeutic journey together. 

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