FAQ

1. What are your qualifications?

I have a BA in Applied Psychology from Penn State University with a minor focus in sociology. Graduated with a 3.8 GPA as the Vice President of Psi Chi (an honors fraternity for psychology).

I have a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology with a minor focus in Marriage and Family Therapy from Kutztown University which is a 60 credit licensure track program (most MA's are 48 credits or less) which means, I'm in a position to sit for the LPC and the MFT exams per my education (though I've opted out of being licensed). Graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

I graduated out of a year long program through the Institute for Professional Empowerment Coaching IPEC over a decade ago (before it was cool to call oneself a life coach) to receive my Certification as a Life Coach (CLC).

I'm also a founding member of an environmental charter school, and have worked as an adjunct psychology professor teaching Adolescent Psych, Women and Gender Studies, Intro to Psychology and Abnormal Psychology. 

Prior to teaching, I worked in lock down psychiatric units, in dual diagnostic facilities (dual diagnostics specializes in addiction combined with a mental health diagnosis) with both adolescents and adults (separately), and interned at a dance movement focused private practice. I have certifications in Chakra Psychology, Reiki and I teach Let Your Yoga Dance which is a chakra based movement healing modality.

But as they say, "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called." Life has taught me more than any classroom or work environment, ever could. 

2. Do you accept insurance? 

No. At best, with the most amazing of insurance companies, you can submit your invoice to potentially be compensated for an out-of-network provider.

3. What got you into this field?

I was a rougher teenager than most "normal" teens, coming from an abnormal background, that at the time, felt totally normal. It wasn’t until seventh grade that I was fortunate enough to have a teacher that saw me. Like, really saw me. 

She saw my soft, through my armor. She touched me in my soft parts with soft words, and gave me a space to feel the reprieve to put down the hard ass approach that I defended myself through life with at the time. I wanted to give to other people what Mrs Owen's gave to me. 

I wanted to be the one who saw those of us who felt the most unseen, so naturally, I wanted, not only to do good for her, but I wanted to be for the world, what she was for me.

At the time, I thought I wanted to be an English teacher (just like her), and a writer, because she was the first teacher ever, to not only believe in me as an essential person, but in my work as a writer and I wanted to make her proud. Read Imperfectly Sane for more details on this one because they're important. ;) 

The underlying thread of all of my hearts desires were clear to me across a larger timespan though. I wanted to see people, especially the unseen, the way Mrs Owens saw me. 

I went on to get my degrees in psychology because once I got over the angst of my tumultuous relationship with my mother, I desperately wanted to save her, to figure her out, to way-show her a new way of existing in her own skin. I didn't realize that my initial desires to be a therapist were on a larger scale, deeply seeded in codependency; which is how, all of my teachings, writings, and client demographic has led to working primarily with the codependent empath. 

4. What’s your favorite about doing this work?

My favorite thing is knowing that each parent I serve, I serve the future of their children, even when their children are already grown, and sometimes even older than me! And vice versa; each child I serve, we honor their ancestry, even if it was toxic, by becoming the legacy we wish was left for us. What we didn't get to receive, we get to give, and this, not only makes my heart sing, I hear choirs of ancestors supported by angels, chanting the the pulse of the brave ones willing to do the work.

Being invited into people's hearts, and more importantly, their lineage is such an honor to me. I love being with people who're ready for me, who receive me and let me receive them, who're willing to hold my hand and trust me without leaning too heavily on me so they're not off balance, and watching them die to old versions of themselves (which is the most terrifying aspect of the work) inevitably resurrecting themselves from their own ashes, phoenix style. 

5. What do you stand for in your work? 

I stand for the children, the ancestral line, the person and the partner of every one of my clients.

As conservative as it may seem, I stand for union, which means, if I believe a marriage, relationship, or situation is workable, which most are; especially for those people who are attracted to my work, I won't be the person suggesting dissolving a marriage or cutting someone off. Though at times, these are necessary, I believe with much external proof, that one willing person who's invested in doing the work, can change every spoke in the wheel of their existence by doing their work alone. I stand for families staying together, and transforming current situations rather than blowing things up to go create new situations that create more of the same old, just with different people and places. 

6. Who might your one on one work not be a good fit for? 

*people wanting to stay in a blame oriented perspective

*people who can't pay their bills

*people involved in legal matters they're wanting advice on

*people without empathy

*people trying to navigate polyamorous or BDSM oriented relationships. 

7. How do you manage being a mother of four who tandem nurses, co-sleeps and runs a business from home?

Like I do everything else, as presently as possible. 

I view all of the messiness of motherhood as if it's a present, a gift. 

Sometimes I want to blame myself or my fiance, or resent my kids when the dogs puking, the baby's crying, their friends are trashing my house, the dryers broken and the foods burning on the stove while my partners at work and I have 100 emails to answer. 

I want someone to blame for the chaos, but God gifted me all of the things I could think to complain about, and God gifted me the vision to see beyond the mess, into all of the color, and the heart to remember that if any one of the things were taken, I'd be a lesser version of myself. 

Whenever I get asked this question, I always respond back, "How have you ever done anything? You just do it!" We never know how we do it, and other people always seem to make it look "better" than we think we could but in the end, we don't know how we've gotten this far, we only know, we have, and that, my friend, is a present. I manage by opening to it, as such, while simultaneously, allowing it to open me.

8. What are you favorite self care practices?

On the daily, I juice because, plant medicine shouldn't be compartmentalized to ceremony, but ingested daily and most simply that's done by fresh organic fruits and vegetables and therapeutic grade essential oils. 

Journaling daily, in a gratitude journal and simply writing morning pages to free my stream of consciousness.

I'm a naturopath junkie, so my cabinets are full of supplements. I had a very young cancer diagnosis, watched my fifteen year old almost die of a very rare heart condition called myopericarditis, have a kid with Lyme, a partner with cluster headaches, and I've suffered from decades of grand mal seizures; so I'm very attuned to the necessity for preventative medicine for all and the importance of soothing the vagus nerve (which is where I glitch out with seizures). We also use adaptogens daily. (See my Resources page for the things that make this easy for us.)

I've really benefited from massage, as someone who used to cringe at touch. Still, it took years to not jump when even in a safe space, someone put their hands on my back. It's brought me a long way to learn how to receive. 

Also, nature, daily. 

9. What are your go-to practices to do when you're stressed?

Writing. Helping someone else when I feel helpless. Barefoot walks by the river. Prayer. My trustee acupressure mat. A self healing protocol aided by therapeutic grade essential oils (especially the YL Feelings Kit - also see my Resources page). Driving on country roads with the music up and windows down. Throwing an epic temper tantrum which leads to crying. You know! All the things. 

10. Whats the biggest risk you have ever taken?

Writing Imperfectly Sane. That said, I'm going to have to direct you to read Imperfectly Sane for this one. ;) That said, stay tuned, more to come.

11. What’s your best parenting practice?

I let my kids be who they actually are rather than attempting to mold them into a version of who I think they "should" be. Patience, giving more questions than statements, and fiercely protecting their psychic life when my gut says situations are shame based.

Mainly, allowing them to individuate in their own time and recognizing when the hooks to keep them close or shove them out of the nest too soon are there for me, and unhooking myself from them so I can release my kids from my own trauma responses offering them the space to be who and where they are, when and for whatever reasons, why, they're there.

12. Being in relationships is really hard, how do you do it?

Bahahaha...with a willingness to not only show all of my parts but also to see myself in them.

I’m willing to see myself in all kinds of light, sometimes favorable, and sometimes, the worst lighting imaginable with eight chins, metaphorically speaking. And, I must trust that I'm loved from all of those angles by the eyes looking at me. That trust is a delicate balance and for someone who's background is definitely that of an ambivalently attached person, I'm grateful I found a securely attached partner who's strong enough to deal with my shit. ;) It definitely helps me to stay strong enough with myself, to deal with my own shit too.  

13. What’s your mission?

To be a voice for those of us who know what it's like to spend years, hidden, silently screaming on the inside who're too tangled, too afraid to even attempt to find the words to express ourselves for fear of punishment if we dared. To be the willing to dare with the Truth.

14. What is the most important book you have ever read?

A Course in Miracles, hands down.