When I first decided to become a therapist, it was because therapy changed my life.

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I had an incredible therapist who believed in me during a time when I struggled to believe in myself. She walked with me through some of the hardest seasons of my life. She reminded me that my story wasn’t over. She gave me the hope and confidence to build a future I never thought was possible. She’s the reason I went back to school to become a counselor.

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At the time, I thought I knew what kind of therapist I wanted to be. Then life took me in a direction I never expected.

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While I was working on my master’s degree, I became seriously ill and eventually needed a transplant. Suddenly, everything I had been learning in school became deeply personal. I wasn’t just studying the emotional impact of illness anymore. I was living it.

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That experience changed me. It also changed the direction of my career.

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I realized I wanted to better understand the connection between physical health and emotional well-being, so I switched into the Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling program. I wanted to better understand the unique challenges people face when serious illness, disability, and mental health intersect because I was experiencing firsthand how closely they were connected. That’s where my passion for working with medical trauma, chronic illness, transplant patients, and caregivers really began.

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After graduating, I spent several years working on an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team. I worked with individuals facing serious mental illness, trauma, substance use, homelessness, and some of life’s most difficult challenges. Walking alongside people as they rebuilt their lives reminded me that healing looks different for everyone. No two stories are exactly alike, and that’s one of the things I love most about this work. It also showed me how much can change when someone has a therapist who believes in them, even when they don’t believe in themselves. That experience is a big part of why I continue to have a passion for working with individuals in recovery today.

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My own healing journey didn’t end after my transplant. Long after my body had healed, I realized I was still carrying the emotional impact of everything I had been through. EMDR helped me process my own medical trauma in a way I never expected. It helped me heal from things I didn’t even realize I was still carrying. That experience is one of the reasons I chose to become EMDR trained. I wanted to be able to offer that same opportunity for healing to others.

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Today, my practice brings together every part of my journey. My education. My own experiences. The people I’ve had the privilege of working with throughout my career. Each one has taught me something about healing, resilience, and the importance of having someone beside you when life feels overwhelming.

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Whether someone is navigating medical trauma, chronic illness, transplantation, trauma, anxiety, grief, substance use, or a major life transition, my hope is to create a space where they feel genuinely seen, understood, and supported.

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Looking back, I can see how each part of my journey shaped the therapist I’ve become. The experiences that once felt like they might define or limit my life have become some of my greatest sources of compassion, understanding, and purpose.

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Today, I don’t see those experiences as detours from my life. They became part of the path that led me here.

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I hope to be the kind of therapist mine was for me. Someone who believes in you when it’s hard to believe in yourself. Someone who sits beside you through life’s most difficult moments. Someone who reminds you that your story isn’t over.