Whenever I describe myself, I always start with saying I was an Army brat.  That life gave me the opportunity to travel outside of the United States; it showed me there was so much more out there than the military towns I lived in.  Another benefit was that I also developed a love of learning about other cultures and history, especially when living overseas.  Normally, I didn't live anywhere more than three years, which taught me to learn to love to talk to new people.  As the saying goes, I may not be a native Texan, but I got here as fast as I could.  I would also like to think that I am funny and have a sense of humor, but I think I still need to work on that. 
 
My bachelor's degree in Psychology is from the University of Maryland in Germany.  Later I received my masters degree in Counseling from Amberton Univeristy in Dallas and am a licensed professional counselor-supervisor, LPC-S.  And I have just graduated from TWU with my bachelor's degree in nursing and am licensed as a registered nurse, RN.   I have worked in various locations including:
  • At a teenage runaway shelter  working with runaway, abused and homeless youth and their families
  • At an advocacy center working with sexually abused youth and their families using play therapy
  • At a youth and family clinic doing therapy and assessments with youth and their families
  • At a residential treatment center working with traumatized and/or abused children using play therapy
  • At a mobile crisis unit conducting assessments for treatment recommendations
  • At a psychiatric emergency room and psychiatric hospital.  I currently still work in a psychiatric hospital as a nurse on a part-time basis. 
I am grateful for many of the opportunities that I have had in my life as well as many of the ditches that I dug for myself.  Those ditches gave me the ability to learn how to climb out of the problems that I may have created.  I have the motivation to help others as well as the training and experience needed.  I am also grateful to have the opportunity to work with others and help to see them reach their goals and their potential!  I have been in private practice for more than a few years and am looking forward to seeing my practice continue to grow.  My sister had reminded me that I often spoke about being a counselor and having my own practice when a teen-I have always wanted to help others. 
 
I am a believer in cognitive behavioral therapy.  What does this mean?  It means I believe that a lot of our thinking causes problems with our actions and then our actions cause problems with our feelings.  But, I also believe that you meet the client where they are at currently.  I can use multiple therapies needed to work towards your goals of therapy.  I strongly believe that you should be able to tell your counselor anything and there is NO judgement.  One should be able to develop the rapport needed with their counselor so that they can say anything.  I invite my clients to tell me if there is something different that we need to do in counseling.