ABOUT ME

My calling in life is to assist people in their personal healing so that we all may rise together to  create  a more just and loving world . This led me to studying psychology and social systems and I earned high honors for my BA in Sociology at University of California, Santa Cruz in 2002. I then moved into a career as a professional counselor and social worker after completing my Masters of Social Work at Portland State University in 2007. 

I have 13 years of post graduate experience working with a variety of populations around an even wider variety of challenges. From working with youth in school and clinical settings, to people with developmental and learning disabilities, to the GLBTQ community,  to elders around life transitions; the journey has been rich.  I hold a great deal of gratitude for  the opportunity to learn how to best serve people in many walks of life and  the wisdom people have imparted by sharing their experiences. 

As a departure from traditional counseling, I have seen the deeply transformational power of bringing ritual into our daily lives and ceremony to our life transitions. Over the past 20 years I have been studying and participating in ritual and ceremonial work, utilizing elements from a variety of traditions . Within the past 10 years I have been assisting people in creating personalized ceremonies for life transitions. This has been a very rewarding and impactful part of my work and I believe serves as a wonderful addition to counseling. ​

What are tribal wisdom practices?" someone asked me the other day as they read my description of a group I am offering. This question gave me the gift of learning to articulate why I choose to do this work and why I am approaching it in this way.
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