Licensed to practice in Kentucky and accepts 9 insurances. Specializes in First Responders/Healthcare Workers, Life Transitions, Couples Counseling and 10 more.
(she/her)
New to Grow
I’m a warm, down-to-earth therapist with more than 25 years of experience helping people navigate anxiety, trauma, relationships, grief, career and life transitions, and those seasons when life simply doesn’t look the way you thought it would. My approach is compassionate, practical, solution-focused, and collaborative. I’ll listen carefully and create a space where you can be completely yourself—but I’ll also ask thoughtful questions, offer honest feedback, help you recognize patterns, and give you practical tools you can actually use outside of therapy. Life experience has shaped me just as much as education and professional training. I’ve been married to my HS sweetheart for more than four decades, raised three children, experienced loss and grief, navigated career changes, family challenges, parenting, marriage, aging, and the many unexpected chapters that come with building a life alongside the people you love. Those experiences have given me a deep appreciation for resilience, relationships, humor, and the fact that none of us gets through life without a few scars and stories! My work is especially meaningful with adults and couples navigating anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges, parenting, first responder or military life, grief, major transitions, and questions about identity or purpose. I enjoy working with people who may appear capable and successful on the outside while privately feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, stuck, or exhausted from holding everything together. My therapy is holistic and individualized. Depending on what fits you, we may incorporate evidence-based approaches alongside mindfulness, humor, nature, animals, relationships, meaning and purpose, and faith or spirituality if that's valued. I believe therapy should help you understand where you’ve been without keeping you there. Together, we’ll focus on healing what hurts, strengthening what already works, and helping you intentionally build a life and relationships that feel authentic, meaningful, and with any luck a little lighter.
Starting therapy can feel intimidating, especially if you’ve never done it before. My goal for your first session is simple: I want you to leave feeling heard, understood, hopeful, and a little lighter than when you arrived. Our first meeting is a conversation, not an interrogation. I’ll want to understand what brought you to therapy, what has been happening in your life, what is working, what isn’t, and what you would like to be different. We’ll talk about your history, relationships, strengths, challenges, and goals at a pace that feels comfortable. You never have to tell your entire life story in one hour—or share something before you’re ready. I also don’t believe you should have to wait several sessions before therapy begins to feel useful. When appropriate, I may offer observations, ask thought-provoking questions, introduce a practical strategy, or help you see a situation from a different perspective during our first conversation. With couples, the first session looks a little different. My goal isn’t to determine who is right, choose sides, or keep score. I want each partner to feel heard as we begin to understand the relationship itself—how you communicate, where you get stuck, what happens during conflict, what each person needs, and what continues to bring you together. Often, the problem isn’t simply the topic you’re arguing about, but the pattern you have developed around it. Whether you come individually or as a couple, you don’t need to arrive knowing exactly what to say. Come as you are. By the end of our first session, I hope you feel that you’ve found a safe place to be honest, that your concerns make sense within the context of your story, and that together we have a direction for moving forward.
One of my strengths as a therapist is knowing when someone needs me to sit with them—and when to challenge them to see things differently. I provide a warm, compassionate, nonjudgmental space, but I’m not the kind of therapist who sits quietly and nods for an hour. Therapy works best as an active conversation built on trust, curiosity, honesty, and sometimes a little humor! My approach draws from (CBT), motivational interviewing, Socratic questioning, narrative therapy, mindfulness, and solution-focused strategies. I love asking questions that help clients become curious about their own thinking: Is this belief true? Where did it come from? Is it still serving you? What would happen if you responded differently? I help clients recognize negative thought patterns, challenge beliefs that keep them stuck, identify their strengths, and experiment with healthier ways of approaching their lives and relationships. More than 25 years as a therapist have given me clinical experience, but life has been an equally important teacher. I’ve experienced a long marriage, parenting, loss and grief, complicated family relationships, career transitions, unexpected changes, tremendous joys, painful chapters, and the ordinary messiness of being human. Those experiences have taught me that resilience isn’t about avoiding hardship—it’s about learning how to change without losing yourself! Healing can involve more than conversation. Depending on the individual, therapy may incorporate mindfulness, humor, nature, animals, movement, relationships, meaning and purpose, & faith or spirituality when desired. Clients can expect me to meet them with compassion while also believing in growth. We’ll explore the past when it helps explain the present, but we won’t build a home there. My goal is for you to understand your story, challenge what is keeping you stuck, recognize choices available to you now, & begin creating a life that feels more intentional, connected, authentic & genuinely yours.
My ideal client is someone ready for something in life to feel different—even if they aren’t quite sure what needs to change or how to begin. They may be navigating anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship difficulties, parenting challenges, career transitions, burnout, or simply feeling overwhelmed by the demands of everyday life. Often, they are the capable person others depend on while privately wondering, “Who takes care of me?” I especially enjoy working with adults and couples during life transitions: college and young adulthood, marriage and relationship changes, parenting, career decisions, military or first responder life, empty nesting, caregiving, loss, midlife, and the unexpected chapters that can leave us questioning who we are and what comes next. My clients don’t need to arrive in therapy with everything figured out. They simply need some willingness to be curious about themselves. You may want to understand why certain patterns keep repeating, communicate more effectively, quiet an anxious mind, heal from experiences that still affect you, strengthen your relationships, set healthier boundaries, or rediscover parts of yourself that got lost while you were taking care of everyone else. I work especially well with clients who want therapy to be both supportive and active. Sometimes you may need a safe place to be heard without judgment. Other times, you may want thoughtful questions, practical tools, a different perspective, or someone willing to gently challenge a belief that is keeping you stuck. You don’t have to fit into one particular box to work with me. I welcome individuality, humor, questions, vulnerability, and different perspectives. Whether your goals involve healing the past, improving the present, strengthening relationships, finding greater meaning, or deciding what you want your next chapter to look like, we’ll work together to create a life that feels more peaceful, connected, intentional, and authentically yours.
I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help you understand how your thoughts, feelings, and actions influence one another—and how changing even one part of that pattern can begin to change how you experience your life. Many of us develop ways of thinking and responding that made sense during difficult seasons but may no longer serve us well. In our sessions, we’ll slow things down and become curious about what is happening beneath the surface. What were you telling yourself in that moment? What did you assume someone else was thinking? What were you afraid might happen? Where did that belief come from? Is it still true today, or are anxiety, past experiences, fear, perfectionism, or self-doubt influencing the story? I won’t simply tell you to “think positively” or hand you a worksheet and send you on your way. Therapy with me is conversational and practical. I ask a lot of thoughtful questions—sometimes questions that may make you pause, laugh, reconsider something, or say, “I’ve never thought about it that way before.” Together, we’ll identify patterns that keep showing up in your relationships, work, parenting, anxiety, self-esteem, or other areas of life. Then we’ll explore what you can realistically do differently. That might mean setting a boundary, approaching something you’ve been avoiding, communicating differently, questioning your inner critic, tolerating uncertainty, or experimenting with a healthier response to an old trigger. We’ll also pay attention to what happens between sessions, because real life is where you practice change. We can look at what worked, what didn’t, and what you learned about yourself. Over time, my goal is for you to become your own best observer—able to catch an unhelpful thought before automatically believing it, recognize an old pattern before repeating it, and pause long enough to choose your response. Ultimately, this work is about creating greater freedom, confidence, and choice in how you live your life.