Who I am

I am a licensed clinical psychologist in Arizona (license number 4828) and Virginia (license number 0810007646) and a member of the Arizona Psychological Association (AZPA) and the Virginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists (VACP).  I am privileged to work with clients in both Virginia and Arizona.

I'm a native Virginian and Georgetown University grad who ventured west in 2010 for graduate school. I spent most of the next decade in Arizona, learning about psychology, about therapy, and about the human experience. I learned about the courage and power of vulnerability, my own and that displayed by client after client I encountered. I grew in my understanding of both the impact of change and the value of acceptance.

I returned to Virginia in 2021, welcoming the change (if not the winter) and enjoying exploring the area with my family. Some day I will finish unpacking (change), but the laundry and dishes will probably never all be clean and put away… and that’s okay (acceptance!).

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

IT STARTED WITH RESEARCH…

After graduating from Georgetown in 2007, I worked for a public health firm in Maryland on government-funded research to develop mental health education materials for youth, adults, and providers.  It was important to me that people receive mental health information and services that are founded in solid research.  I continued my research quest at ASU, where I earned a Masters degree in Psychology (2013) and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (2016).  At ASU, I worked on a preventive parenting intervention for parents experiencing separation or divorce.  I also researched how parenting impacts young adults' approaches to romantic relationships and the relation between romantic relationships and alcohol use.  And the link that tied all of this together: significant relationships.  I was and am fascinated by how we impact each other as we navigate our lives, and how each major relationship we experience (family, friend, or romantic) impacts how we approach our next relationship.  

...AND GREW FROM THERE

We can learn so much about people and about relationships from research, and yet all people are unique and complex and will always be something of a mystery to those they encounter.  We can never fully understand the experience of walking in someone else's shoes, but I strive to walk with my clients.  And I have loved being a clinician from the moment I started doing therapy in 2011. 

Over the past several years, I worked with children 3 and up, adolescents, families, adults, and couples across various settings in the Phoenix area (i.e., community mental health, outpatient clinics, university counseling, hospital, and private practice).  I also completed a year-long clinical internship at the Mary A. Rackham Institute at the University of Michigan in 2015-2016 before returning to Arizona and opening my practice.  I have facilitated therapy groups on the following topics: child and adolescent social skills, enhancing adolescents' school engagement, adolescent grief following loss of parent, social anxiety, depression, adult coping with serious illness, parenting after divorce, adult PTSD, mindfulness for chronic pain, and insomnia.  I also gained experience conducting formal psychological and psychoeducational assessments and writing interpretive reports. 

My practice transitioned to primarily virtual when COVID-19 hit in 2020. In late 2021, I moved to Virginia and my practice became 100% virtually, serving clients in both Virginia and Arizona. I stopped accepting new child and adolescent patients in 2022. I greatly enjoy working with kids and teens, but have opted to currently not see this population for scheduling reasons; simply, the after-school hours are my family time.

I continue to be actively engaged in the learning process and have completed an intensive externship in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), an evidence-based therapy that I am delighted to offer in my practice. I have also completed Level 1 and Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and I use Gottman Method Couples Therapy in my practice.  

I am currently in the process of working towards certification in Perinatal Mental Health, and intend to complete this process in 2022. I am very excited to work with parents during pregnancy and throughout the parenthood journey.