I hold a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology and am a Clinical Counselor (LMHCA MC60407074). I am also an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (L-18714). I provide counseling, speaking and training, media, and professional consultation services. I’m also an award-winning researcher who has been privileged to hear the stories of many people who have coped with unexpected challenges in life.
I graduated from Illinois State University in 1996. I first provided mental health care to diverse young adults at Illinois State University Career and Counseling Services and to a wide range of individuals, couples, and families at Chestnut Family Counseling Center in Bloomingtonl, IL. My focus on culture in my graduate education, over 30 years of bicultural and bilingual living, and commitment to the never-ending work of developing cultural humility and dismantling institutional oppression allows me to work respectfully and effectively with people who have various cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, beliefs, and life circumstances.
At Sandbox Therapy Group, I offer holistic counseling that addresses the needs of individuals and families experiencing a variety of life challenges. One of my specialties is working with families coping with challenges in their reproductive and parenting years, such as postpartum depression and traumatic birth. I also work with survivors of narcissistic abuse and domestic violence.
My experiences as a mother led me to become a volunteer lactation counselor and then, in 2002, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and a Registered Lactation Consultant (RLC). I have over 20 years of experience helping lactating families. I also have personal and professional experience with adoptive breastfeeding and adoptive parenting. I formerly served on Mothering magazine's Ask the Experts panel, answering questions about lactation.
My concern about the negative effect of traumatic life experiences, including traumatic birth and domestic violence, on well-being led me to become Certified in Acute Traumatic Stress Management. I am a member of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the National Center for Crisis Management.
My observations of the huge gap between intentions and outcomes for individuals and organizations striving to incorporate values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in their lives and work have led me on a decades-long journey of developing knowledge and skills that are needed to effectively help counter the negative impact of multiple systems of privilege/opression on individuals and their communities.
As an internationally recognized speaker, I give presentations, keynotes, guest lectures, workshops, webinars, and other forms of training at events attended by parents, community members, college students, educators, adminstrators, perinatal support providers, health care providers, and mental health care providers.
Some of my publications have been translated from English into Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Croatian, Hungarian, and Chinese.
I serve as Program Chair for the GOLD Lactation Online Conference. I also formerly served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University where I taught counseling skills; as the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for JUUstice Washington, a state action network for social justice; and as Education Manager for the International Lactation Consultant Association.
My professional memberships and affiliations include:
Have questions? Please contact me anytime! I look forward to hearing from you.
I have been consulted by, provided expert testimony to, provided editorial review to, provided education and training for, worked for, been published by, been interviewed by, included in the resources of, and been quoted by many organizations, including: