Hi, there.

Professional Bio

My work in social services began in the arena of substance abuse treatment. There was a turning point for me a few years into my career when I realized that, though the substance abuse treatment arena saves many lives, I was more interested in attending to the root cause of addiction and shifted my career to spend a few years working in a long-term corrections facility for juvenile offenders, where I could intervene earlier in the lifespan and hopefully address trauma. What I found is that this population was still, for the most part, living through traumatic experiences which prevented much deep trauma-healing, but what I could do was provide a safe and non-judgmental relationship for them in the here-and-now. I learned how powerful presence alone could be.

Eventually, I started my private practice Wild Sunflower Counseling, specializing in trauma therapy. What I learned through this work is that my job as a therapist is to create safety through a loving presence in order to create the conditions for my clients’ innate self-healing power to emerge. I learned through trauma therapy to trust the inner healing intelligence of all persons, and I saw in the psychedelic renaissance a paradigm of therapy that resonated with me. In psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, it is acknowledged that the therapist is not the healing force, nor are psychedelic compounds. Both the therapeutic relationship and the medicine simply create the conditions for the healing potential to happen organically. I leaned into this emerging world of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy where I now find myself in most of my daily work activities.

Here are some aspects of my personal healing and growth background that have been important in shaping my professional work: I have been a student of A Course in Miracles for a decade. I have been a student and teacher of Ghosh lineage hot yoga for over a decade, and I have facilitated ceremonies without the assistance of psychedelic medicines that facilitate expanded states of consciousness through movement. I call the ceremonies TranscenDance, a ritual drawing from the shamanic lineage of trance dance, depth psychology, more modern dance therapies, and the experiences I have had working with people in altered states. I have experience organizing and facilitating medicine retreats. I have a particular interest in the potential for plant medicines in working with the challenges and gifts of motherhood.

I’ve engaged in public speaking opportunities to diverse audiences about addiction recovery, trauma healing, and psychedelic assisted psychotherapy. I am an amateur guitar player and singer. I have been a competitive athlete and counselor of nutritional healing; the psychology of both sports and creativity are of great interest to me.

Non-religious and religious spirituality is important to me, and I have a desire to increase a sense of freedom and sovereignty for all. One of the ultimate freedoms worth empowering is the freedom to allow creative inspiration to be caught as it arises and to be expressed.

There are fear- driven forces in all systems and institutions, including those that are currently intertwined with the world of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy. I strive to become aware of the elements of this type of work that are ego, fear, profit, and power driven and to bring light to those. Psychedelics are powerful and have transformed so many people in such freeing ways, and intense consciousness exploration does not come without the side of human life that is shadowy and difficult. In other words, it's not all rainbows and butterflies. There's deep pain as a result of being a human being that needs to be acknowledged and will often have to be faced, which requires knowledgeable and compassionate support and grounding, through the exploration of consciousness. I also care really deeply about the reality that many people deal with persisting challenging experiences following non-ordinary states of consciousness and this deserves continued attention and respect. <3