“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

I feel so grateful to have found my calling in counseling. For many years I was a trainwreck, hurting deeply inside, making poor choices which only made the wounds deeper. In 1998 I got saved and the Lord healed me of my suicidal ideation. However, I realized that there were still many many unhealed wounds in my heart and mind. I learned a lot about God and knew He loved me, but there was a piece that didn’t connect. When I moved to DFW in December of 2008, I found Watermark church. It took me two years to go to their recovery ministry (CR then, ReGeneration now) but  it was life changing. I confessed what had happened to me and in turn how I had responded badly to others and myself because of it. Taking ownership I gave it to God and received healing from my intense self hatred. The next four years I co-led closed groups and then in 2015, I became a coach in order to go back to school and earn my master’s degree in counseling and marriage and family therapy. I coached for the three years I was in school at Le Tourneau. Going to a Christian University which supported my worldview, while offtering cutting edge integrative Christian counseling materials as well as the other maps and tools used in counseling was a blessing.

As a person who had perfected looking good on the outside while I was desperate and hurting on the inside, my desire to help others with the help that I have received,  helping them with their relationship with themselves, God, and others. We live in an age of constant comparison via social media, etc. My joy is helping the person find their identity in Christ and put down God, self, and others honoring boundaries.

I use different approaches depending on the client. I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, EMDR ( I am EMDR trained), Sensorimotor, and sometimes Solution Focused therapies. When helping clients with stresses between their faith and their sex, I use Sexual Identity Therapy, and for those who experience pain concerning their gender, I use Gender Identity Therapy, which are approaches I have taken trainings in by Mark Yarhouse, a Christian Therapist and professor.

I view most counseling as identity counseling whether a client has had an abusive childhood, had trauma occur to them, or is experiencing a developmental shift, ie., empty nest or off to college. People can lose a sense of who they are, and if they grew up in trauma, sometimes never cultivated their life while they lived in survival mode. My joy, again, is to help people anchor themselves to their beliefs, their values, and what is life-giving. That way they can cultivate the garden of their mental, emotional, and spiritual garden.

I have both Christian and non-Christian resources to share with clients (and I give them out to think about and as homework). Many times people with church hurt can’t hear all the verses because they have been harmed in some way by other Christian’s use of the word, or they have lost trust. I respect that and my approach is person centered in that way.