For over 25 years, I have dedicated my career to helping people navigate some of life’s most challenging moments—trauma, chronic and life-limiting illness, and the complex journey of healing.

As a licensed Clinical Psychologist and National Register Health Service Psychologist credentialed to practice telehealth under the authority of The Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT), I have worked within major U.S. healthcare systems, specializing in evidence-based assessment and treatment for behavioral change and mental health conditions. I have spent much of my career as a chronic and traumatic stress specialist, appreciating how our body carries the lasting effects of our experiences in the world and the remarkable resilience we are capable of.

Among my certifications, I am a Perinatal Mental Health Certified Specialist, EMDRIA Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant, and ASCH Certified Clinical Hypnosis Provider. As a member of The American College of Lifestyle Medicine, I am completing the requirements for the Lifestyle Medicine Professional DipACLM designation, and working towards my Nature as Medicine Practitioner Certification in a cohort of other medical professionals across the U.S. through a partnership program with Massachusetts General Brigham, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

My prior path led me through clinical training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Portland VA Medical Center, and Oregon Health & Science University, where I discovered my love for collaborative, interdisciplinary, and whole health focused care. I completed a trauma/PTSD postdoctoral fellowship at Baltimore VA, which launched my long-standing service with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a co-occurring PTSD/Substance Use Disorder Specialist.

Unexpectedly, in 2020, everything changed for me. I found myself on the other side of the healthcare system when I survived catastrophic mixed septic and hemorrhagic shock in the cardiac ICU and its aftermath. Suddenly, I was not the healthcare provider—I was the patient fighting for my life, and later, the person struggling to find my way back to a sense of wellness. That experience opened my eyes to ways my professional training never could.

While I am profoundly grateful for the attentive medical teams and layered, high-acuity ICU technology that saved my life, I discovered firsthand what so many of my patients had described: once you leave the hospital, there’s often no clear roadmap to recovery. I felt alone, cycling between hope and despair, searching for guidance that simply was not there. I was constantly trying to bridge the gap between what happened in the doctor’s office and the reality of my day-to-day life challenges.

This personal journey through critical illness and recovery did not diminish my professional expertise, it deepened it. It gave me a visceral understanding of what it means to feel lost in our healthcare system, to need not just medical treatment but genuine human connection and guidance toward healing. That is exactly why I am drawn to Healthy. Having stood on both sides of the healing process, I understand that true wellness centers on connection —to what matters to us and to a sense of our vitality. Healthy represents an empowering reconnection back to our health and to our communities.