I am a teacher and a student, a mother and a daughter, a listener and a guide, a therapist and an artist, both serious and playful but soft around the edges. I am passionate about finding balance, joy and purpose in my own life and assisting others in doing the same. I was raised in the suburbs of Chicago and have always valued creative expression in the form of art, music, dance and drama. As a child and teenager these outlets allowed me to express myself in ways where I felt authentically seen and heard. During my years in higher education I was continually drawn to classes in Psychology and Art. The marriage of these two disciplines spoke to me and drew me in so much that I completed a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Psychology and Studio Art and subsequently a Master’s degree in Art Therapy and Counseling.
I have felt the most myself while engaging creatively in community and have volunteered for many wonderful non-profits that focus on the use of art as a tool of communication, as a healing milieu, and as a change agent. Making art with children in a FEMA trailer park after Hurricane Katrina, building and painting a bridge with teenage girls from Palestine and Israel, facilitating art sessions with pediatric and adult oncology patients at OHSU, painting murals with and in the Portland community... time and again I witness the power of the creative process. As a mother I use creativity in my everyday life in how I approach mothering and in how I engage with my child as she discovers the world.