Patti started her professional life as an Air Force Civil Engineer. Volunteering at the local pregnancy center caused her to fall in love with the field of counseling and being there to help people find hope in their darkest hours. She has been counseling in various settings since the early 1990s.

Patti views the study of psychology as another venue for the general revelation of God. However, she considers His special revelation, the Word of God written in the Bible, to be divinely inspired truth through which all general revelation must be filtered. Therefore, in her approach to counseling, she attempts to use Scripture as the primary lens and psychology as a secondary lens for her theoretical formulation. Since man does not address his trials in isolation, she tends to be holistic in her approach to counseling by integrating all factors, which impact functioning: affective, behavioral, cognitive, spiritual, contextual, physical, and volitional as well as one’s unique, God-given personality. Ultimately, however, her theoretical leanings are cognitive, existential, and dynamic.