I am a licensed professional counselor (since 1991) with doctoral studies in human sexuality and post graduate training in art journaling and therapy, divorce, grief and loss,  trauma, transgender issues, sexual health, mindfulness, neuropsychology and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Looking back on my career I see that I have always specialized in helping clients get through tough transitions. In the beginning years of my practice I mostly worked with people who were dealing with issues related to their gender, people who had alternative sexual preferences (kink!) and with women and their sexuality. When I moved to Mexico (where I lived on and off for nearly twenty years) I started and facilitated groups for people with chronic and terminal illnesses and their caregivers. When I returned to the US I got certified as a grief and loss counselor and a divorce coach.  I recently became certified as a Transgender Care Specialist. Currently, in addition to those specialties, I am creating workshops for aging women and their families with a focus on visual journaling: combining art, reflection and community to help us better deal with the realities of aging.

I’ve led an adventurous life, some would say. I’ve lived in many areas of the US, in Tunisia and in Mexico.  Without knowing a soul, after a difficult divorce I moved to Kalamazoo with my three dogs in 2016. I spent the first year getting adjusted and making the house and yard mine. I loved getting the gardens planted, having time to do art, knit, cook (learn about plant-based eating), play with my dogs and take continuing education courses at a relaxed pace. After spending time learning to exist on my own (this was the first time in my life I had ever lived by myself) I started up my private practice again. I am still so excited to be back doing what I love.

My clients come to me because they are in the midst of difficult and painful life transitions. They feel stuck and think there is nothing, including seeing a therapist, they can do that will make a difference. And yet the chaotic and uncertain time between an ending and a new beginning can be a time of exploration and discovery from which they emerge with new passions, with voices they were afraid to use before and with inner strengths they didn’t know they had.

Humans are complex, multi-faceted and unique. As a person who has spent nearly half of her adult life living in other countries, I have learned to take a broad view of humanity and each person’s identity in their world. I provide a non-judgmental, accepting, calm and expansive space to explore the places where you are stuck, where you fear you will be mired forever.  Even if it doesn’t seem like it now, you CAN transition to a new beginning. Second chances are real. I want to put the power to change into your hands by helping you explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviors and then giving you the tools you can take home with you to continue what you have learned on your own.

Since my practice first began in Denver, Colorado, in the early 1990’s, well before before gay/gender affirmative therapy (GAT) became a buzz word I was endorsing and practicing using GAT. I am also a trauma-informed therapist who acknowledges that many of us have been traumatized in the past and still bear in our current lives the scars and even open wounds of that trauma. I strive to bring an awareness of your trauma into my practice and procedures by knowing the symptoms of trauma, working to help you learn to deal with it or overcome it, and finally to ensure I offer you a safe space where you won’t be re-traumatized.