ABOUT

Background...

 

My interest in becoming a therapist began around the time I started the volunteer phone counselor training at the Alachua County Crisis Center in 2002.  The training was demanding and personally challenging but I somehow made it through and began working on the crisis lines.  This was my first exposure to the level of intensity I would become accustomed to over many years spent at the Crisis Center.  I spent many hours on the phone lines with people in immense pain, many of whom were feeling suicidal and many who experienced intense loneliness and alienation from others in their lives.  I learned, through experience, the healing power of remaining present with someone who is in a place of unimaginable pain. 

 

I eventually began serving in other roles at the Crisis Center.  I became a trainer and was part of the on-call outreach crisis team.  I also had the opportunity to respond to the New Orleans Crisis Center following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  I traveled as a part of an eight person team from the Crisis Center to assist the New Orleans Crisis Center and answer their crisis lines following the center's destruction in Hurricane Katrina.  I eventually became a member of the Alachua County Crisis Center's professional staff in December 2007 where I served as the Outreach Coordinator for over five years.  While working at the Crisis Center, I developed relationships with local law enforcement, organizations serving the homeless population, the Alachua County Health Department, local LGBT organizations, and other community partners.  I facilitated groups for adults and teens diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, coordinated services for Survivors of Suicide, and served as the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Coordinator for North Central Florida.  CIT is a nationally recognized training program that provides crisis intervention and verbal de-escalation skills for law enforcement officers so they are better equipped to work with community members experiencing a mental illness or those who are in crisis. 

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While working full time at the Crisis Center, I began my doctoral studies at the University of Florida in 2009.  I was able to obtain training in consultation and worked as a supervisor throughout the program.  My research interests developed through my own clinical training and experiences of supervising other counselors.  I became interested in exploring a concept related to counselors' somatic awareness and experiences when they are working with clients, called felt sense.  I conducted my dissertation research with beginning counselors in the program and was awarded my doctoral degree in August 2015. 

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I opened a private practice after graduating and began offering trainings and workshops related to my doctoral research. I also developed a graduate course, Felt Sense in Therapy: Linking the Mind and Body, to teach graduate counseling students about the use of felt sense awareness while they are working with clients. I completed two years of training in Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing therapy and began learning about and practicing Focusing. I am also trained as an EMDR therapist and often use this highly effective modality when working with clients.