Why I do what I do

bio // who i am

I have been practicing professionally as a therapist for 27. I am the executive director and founder of Restoring Hope Counseling Center and have a private practice in Gainesville, Florida, working with children, teens, adults, families, and couples. I specialize in trauma-informed care, adoption and foster care issues including attachment, abuse recovery, and healthy styles of connecting in relationships with God, self, spouse, church, community, and children. I am a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner and educator. I use a variety of treatment modalities, including Somatic EMDR, Trauma Incident Reprocessing (TIR), parts work through an IFS-informed lens, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), and Family Systems therapy.   I enjoy studying topics that intersect with mental health, faith, and spirituality and professionally respect others’ views that don’t intersect with my own. I believe my interests in these topics come from experiences as a missionary/pastor’s kid and as a of spiritual formation. The most challenging places to grow and learn have come from being a voice for the survivors of abuse and the marginalized through advocacy in the community, testifying in court, and speaking in churches. In additional to founding Restoring Hope Counseling Center, I also helped to found, Thrive, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering, equipping, and encouraging foster and adoptive families in Alachua County, Florida. My joy is being married to Dave for 29 years and raising two daughters, now married, together. And my favorite activities include family time, traveling & exploring, USTA tennis, reading, writing, speaking, community development, and dinners & coffee with friends.

Services I provide