about me

I was born and raised in Minot and have lived here most of my life. My experience began working with families through the child welfare system. I quickly realized I needed to be working with families to help them repair and create solutions. This led to my career change into therapy services. I specialized in youth and families for 25 years. In 2007 I opened my own private practice alongside my full-time career with a state agency.  My experience expanded with adults, substance use issues and couples work. At the beginning of 2021, it was time for a change. I retired from my agency career and moved into full-time private practice to expand services available to the general public. My interests have expanded to working in clinical consultation for other agencies and supervision for new therapists entering the workforce.

​

In 2022 I added therapy dogs to my practice to assist with comfort, engagement and treatment in the therapy environment. The boys practice with me every day where they greet our guests, welcome scratches, love their treats and snuggle throughout the sessions. The boys are service animal trained to smell hormone changes in individuals and provide support to assist in regulation of the nervous system while in session. Sometimes people are not comfortable with animals and the boys can stay out of the therapy room as needed.

​

A recent expansion of expertise has been development of trauma and treatment services to First Responders including Law Enforcement, Dispatchers, EMTs and other professionals with crisis response type careers.