Welcome to your journey towards self-healing and personal growth. I will be your guide as you explore your inner world. As your guide, I provide a warm, non-judgmental, and authentic approach to help you feel safe and comfortable through this journey. Life presents many challenges, therefore I will focus on your strengths to help you access your personal power to overcome them.

My experience in counseling has led me to working with toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults. I have a trauma-informed and client-centered perspective and utilize a variety of techniques that will best suit you. I will always follow your lead while giving you tools to support your personal goals. I am trained in CBT, DBT, Play Therapy, EMDR, and have my TI-RYT200 to provide personal yoga and mindfulness practices.

I look forward to meeting you and helping you to bloom.

“despite knowing they won’t be here for long they still choose to live their brightest lives” -sunflowers, Rupi Kaur

https://www.wildflowerwellnessia.com/

Life is full of adventures and hardships that all too often leave us feeling weak, broken, unloveable, ashamed, lost and alone. This journey can be incredibly challenging as well as isolating, especially when we struggle to find healthy support.

I see my role as a counselor to be a supportive guide. Utilizing a non-judgmental and compassionate approach, I work to provide direction through safe exploration of feelings, thoughts and beliefs that interfere with healthy growth. I have a passion for assisting individuals in navigating the way to stability, self-love and wholeness.

I know the discomfort that comes with allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, which is why I approach each person with authenticity and transparency. In my practice, I utilize a variety of therapeutic techniques to meet each person’s individual needs and specific goals. I work well with children, adolescents, adults and families, and I comfortably address life transition stressors, depression, anxiety, trauma, family discord/attachment, addiction and grief. 

I look forward to walking with you on your path to wellness by joining you in your experiences of distress, growth, hope and joy.

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” - C.S. Lewis

My approach is rooted in providing trauma-informed, culturally competent care. I have experience working with clients from various backgrounds, aged six and older, and offer individualized services according to each client’s needs. I particularly love working with women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, anxiety, depression, and religious issues.

Your decision to begin therapy is a powerful step but can leave you feeling vulnerable. I am passionate about creating a non-judgmental, collaborative environment so you are comfortable being open and authentic. Therapy doesn't have to be scary!

All people have the capacity to grow and change and deserve dignity throughout that process. Life is hard. Let’s navigate through it together.

My experience as a therapist makes me well suited to address issues surrounding various areas
of mental health; such as, clients struggling with anxiety, depression, and other disruptions in
mood. My work focuses on life's journey. Traveling with my clients through the ups, downs and
detours life often throws at us. I have experience working with areas specific to mental health
symptomology, perinatal mood and anxiety, women's specific needs and issues specific to adolescent development.

My training utilizes Mindfulness Based Interventions. I work with clients to alleviate disruptive symptoms through
solution focused interventions and challenging destructive methods of coping. I am certified as a
Level II EMDR Clinician. I have also completed training with with Postpartum Support
International to address concerns related to Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders.

I currently offer individual counseling Monday-Thursday mornings and afternoons. I offer some group sessions on Fridays and Saturdays. I also host a monthly support meeting at our office for mothers struggling with symptoms related to perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Please feel free to contact me with questions. 

I began my experience working with addictions in 2000.  Within this agency, I worked with several populations including adolescents, women, men, and individuals with a dual diagnosis. I have also had the opportunity to work in several different programs including a hospital inpatient and outpatient  mental health unit, an outpatient employee assistance program offering mental health services for employees and their families. I also worked in a school based program offering mental health counseling in a high school.

I have been in Private Practice since 2013.  I have experience working with children, adolescents, and adults.  I enjoy working with individuals as well as couples and families.  I have experience working with anxiety, depression, addiction, lowered self worth, mood disorders, trauma, attachment, women specific issues. relationship issues, communication issues, stress management, and working to resolve thinking patterns that are impeding a person’s ability to move forward .  

The foundation of my counseling is to authentically provide an accepting, non judgmental and compassionate space for you to share your story.  Together, we will begin to work on creating a new narrative that supports growth and the release of old patterns, habits and beliefs that no longer serve you.  My approach in therapy is one that focuses on both the mind and the body.  The techniques that I use in counseling include traditional talk therapies as well as  mindfulness,  art therapy techniques, somatic therapy techniques, meditation, yoga techniques, and breathwork.  I also offer play therapy and theraplay for children and their families.

Successful therapy is the result of effective collaboration between client and therapist.Choosing the right therapist for you is a very personal decision and can seem like an overwhelming task so finding the right "fit" is so important. I value creating a strong, trusting relationship with my clients and want them to feel that they can be comfortable and open sharing their burdens in our sessions. I work with the client to promote self discovery and confidence building which in turn helps them to improve their relationships and manage their life challenges.
 

My style is collaborative, supportive, and compassionate with a client-centered, strength based and solution focused approach. We will work together in defining your vision of more fulfilling life as well as examine, in a non-judgmental way, what beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors prevent you from living the way you want.

In my work as I therapist I take a client- centered empowerment and strength based approach.    I am a licensed Independent Social Worker with over 8 years of clinical and private practice experience working with couples and individuals.  My style is a collaborative, problem solving and solution focused approach allowing you as the individual (or couple) to find the interventions and tools that you can use to reach your goals and gain your power back. In my practice these interventions and tools are explored with an emphasis on whole body wellness, including, but not limited to self-care, nutrition and exercise.
 

My training includes couples therapy, life coaching techniques, mindful meditation, body image, and food issues.   I have a great deal of experience working with individuals struggling with anxiety and depression symptoms.

Whether you are looking for a sounding board for a transitional time in your life, a 3rd party to mediate relationship struggles or to help with relationship enhancement, or someone to help problem solve and reflect back goals and help work through barriers , I would be honored to assist you on your journey to self-improvement, wellness and confident decision making.

Working with kids, adolescents and families is my passion. When I'm not in the office, I can be found teaching psychology courses at the University of Dubuque, volunteering for events at my children's schools, or working with moms as a leader in MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers). I am the mother of two boys, one that spent 3 months in the NICU, so we have had quite an adventure in our time as a family. My mission is to assist individuals in exploring and processing life experiences while learning tools to build healthy foundations on which to grow into stronger and healthier versions of themselves.

My primary approaches to therapy are Cognitive Behavioral and Brief and Solution Focused but every body is wired differently and I enjoy being creative and collaborating with each client and family to find what works for their journey. Play and projects are integral in my work with kids and I enjoy watching a child let their walls down and build trust.

My special interests include working with children, adolescents and families who are experiencing life transitions, anger, anxiety and trauma. I use a variety of techniques including mindfulness and play therapy. Together we will build a foundation on which to grow coping skills so that you can become the best and healthiest version of yourself.