(she/her)
New to Grow
I’m a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and mindfulness-based coach with over a decade of experience in education and mental health, specializing in supporting moms navigating burnout, emotional overwhelm, identity shifts in motherhood, and grief. I also have clinical experience in end-of-life care, which has deeply shaped my approach to holding space for loss, transition, and the quieter forms of grief that often go unspoken. In my work, I support moms who look like they’re holding it together on the outside but feel stretched thin, reactive, and emotionally depleted on the inside. Many of my clients are moving through the grief that comes with motherhood itself—the loss of a former identity, unmet expectations, changes in relationships, or the realization that life feels heavier and more complex than they anticipated. Others are carrying more acute grief or life transitions that have shifted their sense of self and safety. I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness, and CBT to help clients build emotional regulation skills, reduce reactivity, and create more space between their thoughts, feelings, and actions. The work is practical and grounded—focused on what to do in the moments when emotions feel too big, and how to reconnect with values even in the middle of chaos. My style is conversational, down-to-earth, and direct, with a strong emphasis on progress over perfection. I aim to create a space where clients feel understood without judgment and supported without pressure to “fix” everything at once. At the heart of my work is helping clients make room for both grief and growth—learning how to carry what’s heavy while still building a life that feels meaningful, intentional, and aligned with who they want to be.
In your first session with me, you can expect a calm, low-pressure space where we focus on getting to know you—not just your symptoms or struggles, but your story, your day-to-day reality, and what’s been feeling hardest lately. There’s no expectation to have everything figured out or to tell your story perfectly. We’ll go at a pace that feels manageable for you. We’ll start by talking about what brought you in—whether that’s burnout, anxiety, feeling emotionally overwhelmed, struggles with parenting, grief, or a sense that you’ve lost touch with yourself. I may ask questions to better understand your background, your current stressors, and what support systems (if any) are in place, but the session is collaborative and guided by what feels most important to you. I also want to understand what you’re hoping will feel different in your life. That might sound like “I want to stop yelling,” “I want to feel calmer with my kids,” or “I just want to feel like myself again.” We’ll begin to gently identify goals together, without pressure to make them perfect or permanent right away. If it feels appropriate, I may introduce a few grounding or mindfulness-based tools in the moment—simple strategies you can start using right away when emotions feel overwhelming. The focus is always on practicality and meeting you where you are. You can also expect space for grief, ambivalence, or mixed feelings. Nothing you share will be judged or rushed past. My goal is for you to leave the first session feeling understood, a little more grounded, and clear on what working together might look like moving forward. Most of all, the first session is about connection—creating a foundation where you don’t have to hold everything alone anymore.
My greatest strength as a therapist is my ability to create a space where clients feel deeply understood while also gently guided toward change that actually fits their real life. I don’t approach therapy as a place where people need to be “fixed” or perform wellness—they come as they are: overwhelmed, exhausted, grieving, reactive, uncertain, and often carrying more than they’ve had words for. I’m especially attuned to the emotional layers underneath what people present with, and I’m skilled at helping clients name experiences that have often felt confusing or invisible. A large part of my strength lies in my capacity to hold both depth and practicality at the same time. Many clients, especially moms, are living in constant motion—meeting everyone else’s needs while running on empty internally. I’m able to slow things down just enough to help them understand what’s happening emotionally, while also offering tools they can actually use in the middle of a hard moment. I don’t just explore insight for insight’s sake; I help translate awareness into real-world shifts in how they respond, relate, and care for themselves. I’m particularly strong in working with emotional dysregulation, burnout, and the identity shifts that come with motherhood. I understand how quickly overwhelm can turn into reactivity, shutdown, or guilt loops, and I don’t pathologize those responses. Instead, I help clients see them as understandable nervous system responses to chronic stress, unmet needs, and internalized pressure. This perspective alone often brings relief and reduces shame, which becomes the foundation for change. Another key strength is my ability to sit with grief in its many forms. Whether it’s the grief of losing a former identity, unmet expectations around motherhood, relational changes, or more profound life losses, I don’t rush clients through it or try to redirect too quickly. I stay present with what is hard, while also helping clients gently build movement forward when they’re ready. My experience in end-of-life care has deeply shaped my comfort with emotional intensity, ambiguity, and the parts of grief that don’t have clean resolutions. I also bring a grounded, relational presence into the therapy room. My style is conversational, direct, and human. I show up as a real person, not a blank slate, which helps clients feel safer to show up fully themselves. Many of the people I work with have spent years feeling like they have to hold everything together or b
My ideal client is a mom who is carrying more than she lets on. On the outside, she’s functioning—getting the kids where they need to go, managing the household, maybe even working—but internally she feels overwhelmed, emotionally stretched thin, and often disconnected from herself. She loves her children deeply, but she also experiences moments of irritability, burnout, and guilt that leave her wondering if she’s “doing motherhood right.” She may be grieving something, even if she doesn’t always name it that way. It could be the loss of her old identity, the version of herself who had more freedom, patience, or clarity. It might also be the grief that comes with unmet expectations of motherhood, a difficult birth experience, changes in relationships, or the realization that life feels heavier than she expected. That grief often shows up as exhaustion, anxiety, or emotional reactivity, rather than clear sadness. She is self-aware and wants to do things differently, but feels stuck in patterns she can’t seem to shift—yelling, shutting down, or feeling overwhelmed by small stressors. She worries about how her emotional state is impacting her kids and deeply wants to break cycles, but doesn’t always know how to slow things down in the moment. What she really wants is relief, but also reconnection—to feel more grounded in herself, more patient with her children, and more aligned with the kind of mom she wants to be. She’s open to learning practical tools, but even more importantly, she wants space to process what she’s carrying without judgment.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help clients make space for difficult thoughts and feelings instead of fighting them, while building skills to stay grounded in what truly matters to them. Together, we focus on creating psychological flexibility—learning how to notice internal experiences without getting stuck in them, and taking meaningful action aligned with personal values. The goal isn’t to eliminate discomfort, but to help you live a fuller, more intentional life alongside it.