Experience

Current Endeavors

In addition to being a therapist, my dear friend and business partner Sean Boyd have begun a new venture (as of Oct 2014) to offer supervision and business consultation for therapists who are struggling to build or maintain the practice of their dreams. Both Sean and myself created a sustainable, profitable practice in 4 months (which is 3-5 times faster than it takes the average therapist).

We each did this (separately from one another) by tapping into a combination of strengths; specifically, strengths as it relates to marketing, creating a niche, networking, and being somewhat business savvy, overall. We have decided to take our knowledge and impart it onto others who are also pursuing their dreams of owning and operating a successful private practice. We offer individuals supervision and business consultation, as well as group supervision and group business consultation. We also offer marketing tools (anywhere from helping building your own website to creating business cards to all sorts of other things) — anything you need to make your practice the practice of your dreams.

I also work part-time as the Creative Analyst for SonderMind. In this position, I work closely with the other therapists and headquarters to solicit feedback from the community and then help to implement change — all with the goal of improving everyone’s individual practice. My ultimate goal is to ensure an environment free from prejudice and judgement. I support this belief by maintaining a peer-driven, open, and professionally responsible therapist community.

In addition to being in private practice and working for SonderMind, I enjoy giving presentations on the topic of self-harm to both graduate and undergraduate level students. The most recent psycho-educational presentations I’ve given have included schools such as Red Rocks Community College, Regis University, and Metro State University. If you are interested in having me give a presentation at your school or place of employment, please contact me.

I am a member of the Governing Council for the Colorado Counseling Association, as well as I sit on the Leadership Board for the Healthcare Guild.

I am a member of Chi Sigma Lota, the international counseling academic and professional honor society.

Previous Work Experience

Before committing to the world of private practice, I worked at a local community mental health organization on their home-based team. There, I was serving individuals ages 9-70, who were in need of very intensive therapeutic work. I worked with individuals and families, providing support for people who were on their way to needing hospitalization or out of home placement, or who were just coming back from hospitalization or out of home placement and were in need of significant additional support. While this work was very intense and demanding in a lot of ways, I believe it prepared me for just about anything from a clinical perspective. It challenged me in many ways, and has helped me to become the practitioner I am today.

As a graduate level intern, I interned at Lookout Mountain, the maximum security all boys (ages 14-21) jail located in Golden, CO. I interned as a therapist on their special needs unit, working with individuals with co-occurring disorders who had significant behavioral issues and were involved in the legal system. This experience helped me to learn to separate a person’s actions or behaviors from them as an individual, something that has come in handy in every aspect of my life.

During my time in graduate school, I worked at Boulder Community Hospital on their inpatient psychiatric floor, working with a myriad of diagnoses and types of individuals. Many of the individuals there were suffering from SPMIs (severe and persistent mental illness), as well as substance abuse and severe depression. This job set me up to challenge myself and learn about mental illness from a very hands-on perspective.

I also have worked at Jefferson Hills, a medium security residential treatment facility for adolescents, and before that the Eating Recovery Center, an eating disorder hospital in the heart of Denver.