I have a strong passion for guiding, supporting, and walking alongside individuals as they navigate questions of identity, belonging, and healthy development. Whether working with young children, adolescents, or adults, I believe people process their experiences and communicate authentically through the language that fits them.

For younger clients, that often means play, art, and sand tray intervention; for adolescents, and adults, it may look like sand tray, creative expression, music and reflective conversation. Sand tray in particular offers a powerful way to externalize nonverbal experiences- which is often the case for adoptees processing preverbal loss.

As a former early childhood educator, I spent years working with a wide range of children, parents, and families (stateside and abroad) facing diverse presenting issues, which shaped my belief that empathy and compassion are built through relationship and lived experience, not instruction. That foundation continues to inform how I work with clients of all ages.

More recently, I completed a 10 month adoption competency training through CASE (Center for Adoption Support and Education) https://adoptionsupport.org/ deepening my understanding of the adoptee experience- including transracial, transnational, and domestic adoptees. This work is grounded in an adoptee-centered lens: I hold space for adoptees to define and tell their own story, on their own terms, separate from the narratives often constructed around them by adoptive families or the systems surrounding adoption. Combined with my personal experience as an adoptee, this allows me to sit with clients in a way that feels genuinely understood.

Adoption is trauma. Preverbal experiences, though they may not be consciously remembered, are often deeply held in the body and can shape behavior, attachment, and patterns well into adulthood. I believe it is never too late to explore these experiences with curiosity and care. I also hold the understanding that grief and gratitude are not mutually exclusive- an adoptee can feel genuine love and appreciation for their life while also grieving the loss of birth family, culture, or origin story. Both are valid. Both deserve space.

I am committed to providing a safe, nonjudgemental environment where clients of all ages can process these layered experiences, recognize their strengths, and work through patterns that no longer serve them. Adoption is not a single event but a lifelong journey, and I aim to support clients in acknowledging the complicated feelings that come with identity, while understanding the root of where they are in that journey.