“For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in human behavior.”
I was raised in a predominately white suburb of Chicago before moving to Georgia for college. While at the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!), I studied psychology and history. Learning and socializing with students of color while tailgating amongst Confederate monuments and driving down streets named after late politicians who made no secret of their KKK involvement, struck such a chord in me and prompted my interest in civil rights.
I moved back to Chicago for graduate school and ramped up my activism, engaging with The Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s Social Justice Group and becoming the student coordinator of the school’s LGBTQIA+ group. After obtaining my master’s degree in Clinical Counseling, I chose employment opportunities where I could support and advocate for those with the most need and who often had the least access to care: incarcerated individuals, refugees, people with undocumented status, and individuals living with HIV/AIDS, severe mental illness, lack of adequate housing, and/or addiction.
In 2018, I moved to Colorado where I continued to work with clients with low socioeconomic status who struggle with addiction and trauma. In May 2023, I began working at UPR and felt immediately at home with their strengths-based, client-centered care.
My non-therapy – but still therapeutic – dog Gizmo joins me in my Wednesday sessions at the clinic. Originally from a rescue in Kentucky, he is a Chihuahua-Shih Tzu mix who enjoys treats, sunbathing, and licking faces.